The next Alzheimer's treatment may come from an unexpected place. In new research released this week, scientists have found evidence in mice that xenon gas may help treat the neurodegenerative condition.
Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Washington University led the research, published Wednesday at Science Translational Medicine. In mice with Alzheimer's-like disease, xenon gas has been shown to reduce inflammation and brain shrinkage. Researchers are now beginning early human trials to further test the therapy's potential.
Xenon gas is already used in medicine as an anesthetic and medical imaging agent. Research has also suggested that xenon can help protect the brainand some studies have experimented with its use as a treatment for depression and other brain-related illnesses (sadly, depression research has been a mixed bag for now). Because xenon easily crosses the blood-brain barrier—a shield that keeps the brain safe from infections but also prevents most drugs from reaching it—scientists wondered if xenon could also protect the brains of people have Alzheimer's.
The researchers tested inhaled xenon on two types of mice designed to develop the brain damage seen in Alzheimer's. In these mice, the gas appeared to activate a protective response from the brain's unique immune cells, called microglia, and this activation in turn helped their brains fend off the harmful changes. associated with Alzheimer's. The mice experienced reduced levels of brain inflammation and atrophy, for example. The researchers also noted promising signs of reduced amyloid plaque, one of the biomarkers strongly associated with Alzheimer's progression.
“This is a very novel discovery that shows that simply inhaling an inert gas can have a profound neuroprotective effect,” said senior researcher Oleg Butovsky, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in a statement from Mass. General Brigham. “One of the major limitations in the field of Alzheimer's disease research and treatment is that it is very difficult to design drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier—but xenon gas does.”
Although these findings were based only on mice, they were enough for the researchers to take things a step further. The team is set to launch a Phase I trial over the next few months that will test the safety and immune effects of xenon gas in healthy human subjects. In the future, this discovery may pave the way for new possibilities in harnessing the potential of xenon for brain healing.
“If the clinical trial goes well, the opportunities for using xenon gas are great,” said co-author Howard Weiner, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women's and lead researcher of new trial, in a statement. “This could open the door to new treatments for helping patients with neurologic diseases.”
Although there have been some important advances in the treatment of Alzheimer's in recent years, today's best drugs still provide a modest effect in slowing the progression of the disorder. So new therapies that can attack Alzheimer's from a different angle are very welcome. Currently, approximately 7 million Americans are thought living with Alzheimer's—a number that will nearly double by 2050.
