An 80-year-old drug that had been used to treat gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea, may hold promise for reversing the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, according to researchers at Canada’s McGill University.
Dr. Siegfried Hekimi of the school’s Department of Biology said the drug clioquinol directly effects the CLK-1 protein and could act to slow aging. While exactly how the drug affects CLK-1 is unknown, Hekimi said a possible explanation is the fact that clioquinol is known to affect metal in the bloodstream, leading him to theorize that metals are involved some way.
Researchers tested the compound on mice and some invertebrates and demonstrated that it inhibited CLK-1 and impacted the progression of Alzheimer’s and two other age-related disease.
However, Hekimi advised caution, saying far more research is required.
The drug, clioquinol, was used widely in Asia and Europe for gastrointestinal disorders. However, in the ’60s in Japan, it was linked to an outbreak of subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) and taken off the market. But some researchers point out that the incident was never studied and that the drug has been used safely since, casting doubt on the link between it and SMON, according to McGill.
At right: Dr. Siegfried Hekimi
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