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Skin Cancer Drug Reverses Alzheimer's Symptoms In Mice

Posted by timothy on from the with-very-few-exceptions-a-mouse-is-not-a-human-being dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A skin cancer drug may rapidly reverse pathological, cognitive and memory deterioration associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to new research published on Thursday. Bexarotene, a drug that is currently used to combat T cell lymphoma, appeared to reverse plaque buildup and improve memory in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease by reducing levels of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain that cause mental deficits in Alzheimer's disease."

25 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. I was going to say something by bhcompy · · Score: 5, Funny

    but I forgot what we were talking about

  2. Toxilogical Info by Draconi · · Score: 5, Informative

    RTECS No: not available
    Acute toxicity: oral toxicity (LD50): >1500 mg/kg (rat); >720 mg/kg (dog)
    Dermal NOEL: 0.01% (rat)
    Primary irritant effect:
    On the skin: not known; may be an irritant; exposure may exacerbate the deleterious effects of sunlight
    On the eye: not known; may be an irritant
    Ingestion: may cause effects similar to hypervitaminosis A including headache, nausea, vomiting, lip inflammation, mucous membrane dryness, joint pain, scaly skin, and hyperlipidemia

    ---

    Yeah. I'd still take it.

    1. Re:Toxilogical Info by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah. I'd still take it.

      Me too, if it keeps me from suffering the inevitable loss of cognizance (Alzheimer's runs strong in my family).

      The thought of no longer having control over my own thought processes scares the living bejesus out of me.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:Toxilogical Info by tibit · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Considering that it's a cancer drug, I say: meh, it's not bad at all. Chemo usually makes you toxic enough that others are not allowed to touch you for crying out loud, you have to wear warning tags! You're taking chemo at levels that produce acute toxicity: that's normal dosage, duh. This drug is a walk in the park, and given how bad Alzheimer's is, I'd take it without blinking an eye if it worked on humans and I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    3. Re:Toxilogical Info by Guppy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ingestion: may cause effects similar to hypervitaminosis A

      Because it binds to retinoid receptors. The news summaries circulating are a little mis-leading. It's not exactly a "skin cancer" per say, but rather skin manifestations of certain kinds of leukemia. The drug treats certain types of leukemia by forcing the cells to complete differentiation.

    4. Re:Toxilogical Info by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 5, Informative

      Hey, if you have a lot of wanderers in your family, check out Project Lifesaver.

      They have a wrist-mounted transmitter that lets police and caregivers (who have the receivers) find wandering patients quickly and safely. 100% success rate.

      I wrote the code for the transmitters; it was done so well that they didn't need me anymore. (They got Microchip to program them by the reel.)

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
    5. Re:Toxilogical Info by silverspell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Lesson learned, for sure.

      Out of curiosity, what was the lesson?

      (I'm not being a wiseass BTW. Just wondering how that experience has changed your behavior since then -- mainly, how you've protected yourself from having the same thing happen again, while still doing first-rate work in an efficient manner.)

    6. Re:Toxilogical Info by benjamindees · · Score: 2

      The lesson is: never try.

      --
      "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
    7. Re:Toxilogical Info by geekoid · · Score: 4, Informative

      The lesson is, when you autmate and make things more effeicent, never tell anyone.

      Years ago I went to work some place, on a team of 12 support people. Because they way there system works, it took 15 minutes after the code to get all the data into their varies systems.

      I wrote a script that did it in 25 seconds.
      So, the didn't need as many people, so the let me go.

      I'm standing there saying "Why are you letting go the guy who improves that's? Let one of those people go who sit there and do as little as possible? They mumble some nonsense.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    8. Re:Toxilogical Info by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      The thought of no longer having control over my own thought processes scares the living bejesus out of me.

      Let me tell ya, marriage is not for you then

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  3. MICE. MICE ARE NICE TOO. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yay! We may still see a lot of new Sir Terry Pratchett's books in the future! His pal, who speaks in caps, can wait for him a little longer, that's for sure.

  4. Repurposing drugs by kodiaktau · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is one of those instances where I wonder if the drug repurposing is good or bad. The side effects seem to be typical, but as the article points out:

    Experts said that the results were promising, but noted that in the past successful drugs in mice often failed to work in people.

    So what I am trying to figure out is this an instance where Pfizer or someone else is backing the study. It looks like Easi isn't backing this but is someone else backing the work trying to keep a drug repurposed.

    As I think about this I also wonder what happens to the plaque that is removed...so is it reabsorbed into the body?

    Regardless, I think this is definately something useful and helpful if the human studies pan out.

    1. Re:Repurposing drugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I was also interested in what happens to the plaque. also ive read that there is evidence that the evolutionary purpose of the plaques may be to bind to toxins such as heavy metals (or aluminium). if the tangles of plaque can be broken up what happens to the toxins they bind? if the bodies defense mechanism in this case is more harmful than the original problem perhaps this can be beneficial if used with digression.

    2. Re:Repurposing drugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You would hope that the FDA could fast track human trials, and get really sick volunteers who waive the right to sue. We need human guinea pigs to be test subjects in order to find cures and advance medicine.

      I know I would do this if I had a choice between experimental drug and slow death by brain dissolving.

    3. Re:Repurposing drugs by Dahamma · · Score: 2

      This is one of those instances where I wonder if the drug repurposing is good or bad.

      Yeah, the last time someone tried to repurpose a drug for Alzheimer's intelligent apes took over the planet...

  5. Rise of the Planet of the Mice by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

    What will we do with super-intelligent mice?

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Rise of the Planet of the Mice by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Funny

      No problem, they'll just go off and live with the rats of NIMH.

    2. Re:Rise of the Planet of the Mice by Daetrin · · Score: 2

      What will we do with super-intelligent mice?

      Give them flowers?

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  6. Check out the CNN Article on this by mykepredko · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lots of outlets are publishing this, one of the more interesting ones was CNN's: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/09/health/us-cancer-drug-alzheimers/index.html?hpt=he_c2

    Check out the quote: "We've fixed Alzheimer's in mice lots of times, so we need to move forward expeditiously but cautiously."

    So, would it be safe to say that Alzheimer's in mice is different from that in humans (on some level) so you might want to wait a bit before overdosing on Skin Cancer meds?

    myke

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
    1. Re:Check out the CNN Article on this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sometimes it's not so much that the drugs that alleviate AD in mice don't do that in humans also, but that they have nasty side effects in humans that aren't tolerable.

      IIRC, there was a process not too long ago that reversed dementia in mice, and also in field trials in humans, but led to significant brain hemorrhaging as well during the trials, so it was stopped immediately and eventually shelved.

      Hopefully this drug won't have the same side effect problems, but I think it's part of the difficulty in moving from rodent models to humans.

    2. Re:Check out the CNN Article on this by jamesh · · Score: 2

      Lots of outlets are publishing this, one of the more interesting ones was CNN's: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/09/health/us-cancer-drug-alzheimers/index.html?hpt=he_c2

      Check out the quote: "We've fixed Alzheimer's in mice lots of times, so we need to move forward expeditiously but cautiously."

      So, would it be safe to say that Alzheimer's in mice is different from that in humans (on some level) so you might want to wait a bit before overdosing on Skin Cancer meds?

      myke

      Once they've done the basic "this probably isn't going to kill you in the next 5 years and stands a good chance of treating (curing?) your alzheimers disease" testing, I bet you'll get a long queue of people lining up to try it. I know I would. The drug would have to have some pretty major failings to give a worse 5 year outlook than alzheimers disease itself.

  7. painful advances by ffflala · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago. It is simply brutal to see what this disease does to the people you love. But given the inevitable outcome of Alzheimer's, I'll grasp at any straw I can find if it presents some remote hope of a different outcome. This kind of perspective can't help but make one feel as if you're vulnerable to hucksters. There have been similar claims about more dubious Alzheimer's treatments, such as coconut oil, but when it comes down to it my approach is "Will it kill him or hurt him? If not, then let's try it, what have we got to lose."

    The human testing and approval process for treating Alzheimer's with bexarotene will simply take too long to be of any benefit to him. I want to get a physician to approve this medication for the off-label use for my father, so we can try it on him.

    I hope it is not reckless nor irresponsible to see if I can use my father as a sort of non-controlled subject for this study. But it seems that I have the choice between (1) risking a negative, possibly fatal or crippling, reaction for a remote chance at reversing a fatal, painful disease, or (2) waiting responsibly for the gears of formal human medical approval turn, test, find that this works, and approve prescribing it for patients. What kind of a choice is that?

    1. Re:painful advances by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is already approved for use in humans. You can find a doctor who will prescribe it off-label. I'd do it in a heartbeat, as none of the side effects even register on the scale of horror that is Alzheimer's.

    2. Re:painful advances by LurkerXXX · · Score: 2

      FYI, no drugs are 'approved' for off-label use. That's what off-label means - not approved for that use...

      Yes, his dad's physician can prescribe it if he thinks it's worth trying and is willing to take the risk in case things go bad.

  8. Tau protein by Frans+Faase · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just a week ago, the Slashdot item Alzheimer's Transmission Pathway Discovered reported that Alzheimer was caused by the spread of the tau protein gone wrong. How is this to be interpretted in the view of the above new item?