In a recent study, scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison used extensive genetic datasets to discover the genetic patterns of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) throughout the brain and then used those patterns to identify possible treatments that could reverse the AD patterns.
Exercise is the most promising theoretical treatment for AD, according to the findings, which were based on a review of over 250 potential alternatives.
The researchers stated in their study paper, which was released in the journal Scientific Reports on October 13, 2022, “Exercise reversed expression patterns of hundreds of AD genes across multiple categories, including cytoskeleton, blood vessel development, mitochondrion, & interferon-stimulated related genes.”
A disease with no current treatment
The most prevalent kind of dementia in older persons is Alzheimer’s. It usually manifests symptoms at age of 60s, its gradually destroying memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the capacity to perform the most basic duties.
There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Medication, on the other hand, is used to temporarily improve or decrease the progression of symptoms.
In the search for potential treatment models, the new research analyzed 250 data sets of potential treatments in humans & rodents and identified the most effective theoretical treatments for reversing AD gene expression patterns.
One of the top three treatments that may be able to reverse AD is exercise. The majority of experiments, the authors noted, were conducted on rodents, though. The authors of the study stated that “the potential of exercise to reverse AD patterns was striking.”
A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant called Fluoxetine has demonstrated promising results by reversing 549 AD genes, according to the research team, when combined with exercise.
Figuring out what might make Alzheimer’s worse
The score and ranking system also assisted the research team in determining what would worsen AD. The top 2 datasets were linked to alcohol and were from human CNS tissue, suggesting that alcoholism may be a risk factor for AD.
The authors of the study said that the analysed therapies should be considered theoretical for the time being because treatment expression studies differed widely across numerous factors like as sex, species, treatment length, and so on. While research shows that exercise can help reduce the start and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, more human studies are needed to determine how exercise can reverse the disease.
