Statins Reduce Damage from Alzheimer's Disease

A study has demonstrated that cholesterol-lowering drugs can block damage to neurons and blood vessels by a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease. The findings were published in the April 2, 2002, issue of Atherosclerosis.

Although the risk of developing Alzheimer's has been shown to be reduced in people treated with statins, the reason is unclear. Other studies have indicated that high cholesterol or other cardiovascular conditions can increase the risk for Alzheimer's. Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF, Tampa, USA) began looking for clues that would explain the preventive action of statins. They noted that cholesterol and the A-beta protein both promote constriction of blood vessels by a similar mechanism, so they hypothesized that the same drugs that inhibit cholesterol production might affect the A-beta protein's stimulation of inflammatory substances that constrict blood vessels.

The researchers studied the effects of two statin drugs commonly used to treat elevated levels of cholesterol, lovastatin and mevastatin. They found that the A-beta protein appeared to be toxic to cultured neuronal cells, but when these neurons were treated with mevastatin, the neurotoxicity was prevented. They also observed that the statins opposed
the propensity to cause blood vessels to constrict, perhaps due to the general anti-inflammatory properties of the statins. The researchers are further testing the ability of statins to prevent or slow the course of Alzheimer's in a mouse model of the disease.

"These drugs appear to have anti-inflammatory properties, independent of their benefit in lowering cholesterol, which may help protect against dementia,” said Daniel Paris, Ph.D., first author of the study and assistant professor at the USF Roskamp Institute.