New Molecules Fight Alzheimer's: A Fresh Approach

Alzheimer's disease is a major challenge for modern medicine, as we still lack drugs that can truly stop or slow its progression. The number of people affected by Alzheimer's is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years. One big reason why finding new treatments is so hard is that many different factors contribute to the disease's onset and progression. Drugs that can tackle multiple aspects of a disease, known as pleiotropic drugs, are potentially very valuable but also quite challenging to develop. An interesting strategy that hasn't been fully explored for Alzheimer's involves combining different active drug components. This approach, called molecular hybridization or Multi-Target Directed Ligand strategy (MTDL), has worked well in other fields, like cancer treatment. To contribute to the fight against Alzheimer's, researchers decided to combine a currently prescribed drug for Alzheimer's symptoms, called rivastigmine, with components that release hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S is a gas that plays a crucial role in how our brains age. This combination led to the discovery of a small molecule, let's call it Molecule X. Molecule X has shown promising results. It can inhibit an enzyme called AChE, reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in brain cells, trigger a cellular clean-up process called autophagy, and even block the spread of harmful protein clusters known as Aβ fibrils. These positive effects were also observed in living organisms, as Molecule X extended the lifespan in a worm model of Alzheimer's.