Scientists advocate the use of Viagra to treat Alzheimer’s; understand

Scientists from the Cleveland Clinic, in the United States, published a study in the scientific journal Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in which they defend the possibility of repositioning sildenafil, the active ingredient in the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, also for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. The substance is already used, in different doses, for pulmonary arterial hypertension, sold under the trade name Revatio.

In the work, the researchers cite evidence from computational models, real-life data obtained from health plans and observation studies of the brain cells of patients with the diagnosis. Alzheimer’s is the most prevalent form of dementia and, although it is expected to affect more than 139 million people by 2050, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), there are still limited treatment alternatives.

“Our findings give more weight to the repurposing of this existing drug, approved by the FDA (American regulatory agency, equivalent to Anvisa in Brazil), as a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, which is in great need of new therapies”, says Feixiong Cheng, researcher from the Institute of Genomic Medicine at the medical center that led the research, in a statement.

Cheng explains that the team used artificial intelligence to “integrate data across multiple domains that indicated the potential of sildenafil against this devastating neurological disease.” The new work is a sequel to a previous one, carried out in 2021 and published in the journal Nature Aging, which analyzed a database of seven million patients and found an incidence of 69% among those taking sildenafil.

In the recently published study, a broader evaluation, including two different databases, identified the same reduction, but from 30% to 54%. Furthermore, the research brought new evidence to support the repositioning. Tests with patients’ brain cells showed that the molecule reduced the levels of tau proteins, substances that accumulate in people with Alzheimer’s to form plaques.

They also observed that neurons that received sildenafil expressed genes related to cell growth, improved brain function, reduced inflammation and other biological processes linked to protection against the neurodegeneration characteristic of the disease.

In the study’s conclusion, the scientists write that “this validation of real-world patient data and mechanistic observations of neurons” suggests that sildenafil “is a potentially repurposed drug for Alzheimer’s disease.”

However, they highlight that “randomized clinical trials are necessary to validate the causal effects of the treatment”. Clinical tests, such as those in which the use of the medicine is monitored and compared with a group that receives a placebo, are considered essential to prove the effectiveness of an intervention and obtain approval for use by regulatory agencies.

Even so, the researchers emphasize that the results of the study published now reveal how the use of computational models can help to quickly find new therapeutic alternatives, and highlight that the repositioning of an existing medicine offers a cheaper and wider access perspective. to treatment.

“After integrating this large amount of data computationally, it is rewarding to see the effects of sildenafil on human neurons and patient outcomes in the real world. We believe our findings provide the evidence needed for clinical trials to better examine the potential efficacy of sildenafil in patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” continues Cheng.