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The next Alzheimer’s treatment could come from an unexpected place. In new research published this week, scientists found evidence in mice that xenon gas could help treat the neurodegenerative condition.
Scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the University of Washington led the research, published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine. In mice with Alzheimer’s disease, xenon gas has been shown to reduce inflammation and shrinking of the brain. Researchers are now embarking on early human trials to further test the therapy’s potential.
Xenon gas is already used in medicine as an anesthetic and medical imaging agent. Research has also suggested that xenon might help it protects the brainand some studies have experimented with using it as a treatment for depression and other brain-related disorders (unfortunately, depression research has been a mixed bag so far). Because xenon can easily pass through the blood-brain barrier – a shield that keeps the brain safe from infections but also prevents most drugs from reaching it – scientists were curious to know if xenon could also it protects the brain of Alzheimer’s people.
The researchers tested inhaled xenon on two types of mice designed to develop the brain destruction seen in Alzheimer’s. In these mice, the gas appeared to activate a protective response from the brain’s unique immune cells, called microglia, and this activation helped their brains fend off the damaging changes associated with Alzheimer’s. The mice experienced reduced levels of brain inflammation and atrophy, for example. The researchers also noted promising signs of reduced amyloid plaque, one of the biomarkers strongly linked to the development of Alzheimer’s.
“This is a very new discovery that shows that just inhaling an inert gas can have such a profound neuroprotective effect,” said senior researcher Oleg Butovsky, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in a study. declaration from Mass. General Brigham. “One of the main limitations in the field of research and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is that it is extremely difficult to design medications that can pass the blood-brain barrier, but xenon gas.
While these results are based only on mice, they are compelling enough for researchers to take things a step further. The team is ready to launch a Phase I trial in the coming months that will test the safety and immune effects of xenon gas in healthy human subjects. In the future, this discovery could pave the way for new possibilities to exploit the potential of xenon for brain healing.
“If the clinical trial goes well, the opportunities for using xenon gas are great,” said co-author Howard Weiner, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s and principal investigator of the new trial. , in a statement. “It could open the door to new treatments to help patients with neurological diseases.”
Although there have been some important advances in the treatment of Alzheimer’s over the years, the best medications today still provide only a modest effect in slowing the progression of the disorder. So new therapies that can attack Alzheimer’s from a different angle would be very welcome. Currently, about 7 million Americans are thought to live with Alzheimer’s – a number that could almost double by 2050.
