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Brain enzyme links diabetes to Alzheimer's
Last Updated: 2004-12-07 17:00:05 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Karla Gale
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of Alzheimer's disease is increased in
people with diabetes, who are "resistant" to the effects of insulin and
therefore develop high blood glucose levels.
New research suggests that a decreased level of an enzyme that breaks down
insulin -- insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) -- in brain tissue is the missing
link between the two disorders, according to research at the University of
California, Los Angeles.
Moreover, since insulin's action in the brain increase IDE levels, it may be
possible to prevent or even reverse Alzheimer's disease by boosting insulin
activity, Dr. Greg M. Cole told Reuters Health.
Cole's group found in lab-dish experiments with brain neurons that insulin
significantly increased IDE levels.
Comparing brain specimens obtained from normal patients and those with
Alzheimer's disease, IDE was decreased in the Alzheimer's tissue, the
researchers report the Journal of Neuroscience.
And in mice bred to develop a condition similar to Alzheimer's disease, a
diet high in safflower oil led to significantly reduced levels of IDE and
more of the amyloid beta plaques associated with the disease.
There are a number of approaches that may increase IDE levels and thus
reduce amyloid beta in the brain, Cole noted. For example, the anti-diabetes
drug Avandia "an agent used to treat insulin resistance, is currently being
tested in a clinical trial to see if it can help patients with Alzheimer's
disease," he said.
But even lifestyle changes -- increasing exercise, lowering saturated fats
in the diet, and increasing dietary fish oil, which is rich in omega-3
polyunsaturated fatty acids -- can modify insulin's effects and perhaps
"increase the degradation and clearance of amyloid beta," Cole concluded.
SOURCE: Journal of Neuroscience, December 8, 2004.
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