A team of American scientists is claiming to have accomplished something previously thought impossible: reversing Alzheimer’s symptoms in lab mice. Not just slowed. Not just halted. Alzheimer’s disease in full retreat.
In a new study published in Cell Reports Medicine, researchers from Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center report that a compound called P7C3-A20 restored cognitive function in mice engineered to develop Alzheimer’s. Even mice with advanced symptoms recovered lost brain function.
The compound works by stabilizing levels of NAD+, a molecule essential for cellular energy and brain health. NAD+ naturally declines with age, but Alzheimer’s patients experience a sharper drop, leaving brain cells vulnerable to inflammation and eventual failure.
Alzheimer’s researchers have identified two main culprits: amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Those words are complete nonsense to the layman, and it would be too much of a deviation to fully explain them here, but in short, the researchers decided to bypass them entirely and instead focus on restoring the brain’s energy balance, giving neurons a chance to repair themselves.
The researchers tested P7C3-A20 on two different mouse models, one driven by amyloid buildup and the other by tau mutations. In both cases, the drug either prevented Alzheimer’s entirely or reversed its cognitive effects after the disease had already taken hold. According to lead investigator Andrew Pieper, seeing recovery in two genetically distinct models suggests that even advanced Alzheimer’s may not be permanently irreversible.
You’re probably not like me in that it isn’t your job to read science headlines every day. So you may not be aware that there have been more breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s research than I could even begin linking to now without the rest of this article devolving into a solid brick of underlined hyperlinked text. This discovery, should the research hold up to scrutiny, could top them all.
The one big takeaway from all of it seems to be that the researchers are increasingly finding that Alzheimer’s disease is more of a complex case of inflammation influenced by a combo of genetics, environment, and stress. And, apparently, mouth health might play a huge role, according to separate research, making regular brushing, flossing, and dentist visits all the more important.
The researchers still have to conduct human trials, and there is the fear that the treatment may raise cancer risks, but for the first time in a long time, it seemed like we might genuinely be on the road to obliterating Alzheimer’s.
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