Affiliation:
1. Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, 350 W. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85013, USA
2. Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are chronic, progressive disorders affecting the elderly, which fosters global healthcare concern with the growing aging population. Both T2DM and AD have been linked with increasing age, advanced glycosylation end products, obesity, and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance in the periphery is significant in the development of T2DM and it has been posited that insulin resistance in the brain plays a key role in AD pathogenesis, earning AD the name “type 3 diabetes”. These clinical and epidemiological links between AD and T2DM have become increasingly pronounced throughout the years, and serve as a means to investigate the effects of antidiabetic therapies in AD, such as metformin, intranasal insulin, incretins, DPP4 inhibitors, PPAR-γ agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors. The majority of these drugs have shown benefit in preclinical trials, and have shown some promising results in clinical trials, with the improvement of cognitive faculties in participants with mild cognitive impairment and AD. In this review, we have summarize the benefits, risks, and conflicting data that currently exist for diabetic drugs being repurposed for the treatment of AD.
Funder
National Institutes of Health
Barrow Neurological Foundation
Subject
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,Medicine (miscellaneous)