Study Suggests Estrogen May Help Delay or Prevent Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's Association
Tuesday, 24 March 1998

A new study that suggests how estrogen may delay or prevent Alzheimer's disease is a valuable step forward in Alzheimer research, but needs to be replicated by other researchers, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

"This is good science by respected scientists that moves us in a positive direction," said Zaven Khachaturian, Ph.D., director of the Association's Ronald & Nancy Reagan Research Institute. "The Alzheimer's Association enthusiastically welcomes new information in the drive to treat, prevent and eventually cure Alzheimer's disease."

The new study follows up on earlier research, which showed a correlation between women who took estrogen and reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, by attempting to discover how estrogen might affect the disease process. "Estrogen Reduces Neuronal Generation of Alzheimer beta-amyloid Peptides," by Dr. Sam Gandy of the N.S. Kline Institute, New York University and colleagues, appears in the April 1998 issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

The study was funded in part by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institutes of Health. The Association supports a $100 million increase in federal funding for Alzheimer research. Based on "test tube" studies of rat, mouse and human cells, the researchers believe estrogen may reduce the generation in the brain of certain factors, known as beta-amyloid peptides, that form into the plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. The next step is for these findings to be confirmed by other scientists.

"These are laboratory findings," Khachaturian said. "We still don't know if they are applicable to living people. In addition, there may be other ways estrogen is involved in nerve cell protection." According to the Association, once scientists discover how estrogen protects nerve cells, we can initiate a drug discovery process focusing on those mechanisms. Goals would include finding or creating estrogen-like Alzheimer treatments that do not increase breast cancer risk in women and that are not feminizing in men.

For several years, researchers have been studying the role of estrogen in Alzheimer's disease. Early studies showed a correlation between women on estrogen replacement therapy and a reduced risk for Alzheimer's. Recent studies have shown that estrogen may have a protective effect on nerve cells in the brain, and may somehow prevent nerve cell death. What remains unknown is the mechanisms by which estrogen works in the brain, and exactly how it benefits nerve cells. Clinical trials are underway to test estrogen for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

For more information, or to contact Alzheimer's Association, see their website at: www.alz.org