Latest news with #JayakrishnaAmbati
Hans India
28-05-2025
- Health
- Hans India
Low-cost HIV drug to improve vision in patients with common diabetes complication
New Delhi: An inexpensive, long-approved HIV drug can improve vision in patients with a blinding complication of diabetes more effectively, according to preliminary results of a clinical trial. The drug, lamivudine, could represent an important new option for millions of patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) -- a condition affecting about one in 14 people with diabetes. It causes fluid to build up in the retina of the eye and affects vision. As the drug is taken orally it potentially offers patients an alternative to monthly injections directly into their eyes, said the researchers from the University of Virginia in the US. "The mechanism of action of lamivudine is also different from that of existing treatments, so we could also develop combination therapies," said researcher Jayakrishna Ambati, from UVA Health's Center for Advanced Vision Science. The researchers explained that lamivudine is effective against DME because it blocks the activity of inflammasomes -- important agents of our immune systems. Inflammasomes normally act as sensors of infections, but they have also been implicated in the development of DME. For the study, published in the journal Med, the researchers enrolled two dozen adults with DME in a small randomised clinical trial. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either lamivudine or a harmless placebo, in addition to injections of the drug bevacizumab into their eyes starting after four weeks. Participants who received lamivudine showed significant vision improvements even before their first eye injections. Their ability to read letters on an eye chart improved by 9.8 letters (about 2 lines on the eye chart) at four weeks, while the participants receiving a placebo saw their ability decrease by 1.8 letters. A month after the bevacizumab injections, the lamivudine recipients had improved by a whopping 16.9 letters (more than 3 lines on the eye chart), while the placebo group, receiving bevacizumab alone, had increased by only 5.3. The results suggest that lamivudine may work both alone and in conjunction with bevacizumab injections, though larger studies will be needed to bear that out, the researchers said. Lamivudine alone could be life-changing for patients in many areas of the world with limited access to specialty doctors or who are unable to afford or travel to monthly eye appointments, Ambati said, while calling for more trials of lamivudine with larger numbers of patients.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Alzheimer's disease could be prevented by antiviral drug already on market
An existing drug for HIV could double as a preventative therapy for Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers. NRTIs (nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) are antivirals that are approved to treat HIV infection, but scientists from UVA Health at the University of Virginia found that patients taking them were less likely to develop the common form of dementia. There was a roughly 10% annual reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in people taking NRTIs for every year of use of these drugs, according to lead study author Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at UVA, who spoke to Fox News Digital about the finding. Alzheimer's Brain Treatment Shows Promising Results In New Study After coming across another mechanism that could potentially prevent Alzheimer's, the researchers analyzed 24 years of health insurance data, including 270,000 patients. The Alzheimer's risk reduction among patients taking NRTIs was "significant and substantial," the researchers wrote in the findings, which were published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. Read On The Fox News App Now, the UVA team is calling for clinical trials of NRTIs to gauge their use for treating Alzheimer's. Approximately 10 million people worldwide are diagnosed with the common dementia each year. Alzheimer's Rates Have Reached Staggering Number As Experts Call For Change "This level of protection could translate into 60,000 fewer cases of Alzheimer's disease every year in our country, and up to one million fewer cases every year around the world," Ambati told Fox News Digital. In addition to keeping the HIV virus from replicating, NRTIs also prevent the activation of inflammasomes, proteins that are involved in the development of Alzheimer's. "We had previously shown that NRTIs blocked the inflammasome, so it wasn't altogether surprising that people taking NRTIs might be protecting against this disease," Ambati noted. "However, the degree of protection against Alzheimer's was quite surprising." Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News senior medical analyst, was not involved in the study but commented on the findings. "Inflammasomes are intracellular protein complexes that trigger the release of inflammatory cytokines," he told Fox News Digital. "HIV uses these inflammasomes to fight the immune system." "These chemicals are likely responsible for making Alzheimer's worse, or for accelerating the process of cognitive decline based on neuro-inflammation." Rebecca Edelmeyer, Ph.D., vice president of Scientific Engagement at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, also reviewed the study's findings, which she called "interesting." 'I'm A Neurologist — Here's Why Dementia Is Rising And How To Reduce Your Risk' "Further research and specifically designed clinical trials are needed to fully understand the potential future use of NRTIs to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's, but the study highlights the potential role drug repurposing can play in advancing new Alzheimer's treatments," she told Fox News Digital. Repurposing existing drugs can offer a "promising pathway," according to Edelmayer. As existing drugs' safety and side effects are often already known, the studies can be quicker and less expensive than with new treatments, she added. The research team acknowledged some limitations of the study. "Like all retrospective health insurance database studies, the findings of our study are an association between this class of drugs and the development of Alzheimer's disease," Ambati told Fox News Digital. "They don't necessarily provide a cause and effect — however, the fact that we found this link in multiple databases increases confidence in this result." Siegel agreed that the new study is observational, but noted that it takes place over many years. "It also shows that only this particular HIV drug — inflammasome — dramatically decreases the risk of Alzheimer's, not the other HIV drugs, including protease inhibitors," the doctor said. "I think this is convincing preliminary evidence that warrants further study," Siegel added. "It is very possible that this drug may be useful in Alzheimer's prevention, given the increasing evidence implicating immune dysregulation and inflammation as causes of AD." Looking ahead, the researchers have developed a new drug called K9. Like NRTIs, the novel medication blocks inflammasomes, but is "safer and more effective," according to Ambati. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "The fact that the new drug reversed memory loss and improved spatial learning in mice further increases confidence in our findings," he told Fox News Digital. The UVA team now plans to test K9 in clinical trials for Azheimer's. Ambati noted that people should not take NRTIs for Alzheimer's prevention unless they are in the context of a clinical trial. "If interested, they should be on the lookout for such trials for themselves or loved ones who may be affected," he advised. For more Health articles, visit Nearly seven million people in the U.S. are currently living with Alzheimer's, and the number is expected to reach 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The UVA study was funded in part by the UVA Strategic Investment Fund and the National Institutes of article source: Alzheimer's disease could be prevented by antiviral drug already on market
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Alzheimer's disease could be prevented by antiviral drug already on market
An existing drug for HIV could double as a preventative therapy for Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers. NRTIs (nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) are antivirals that are approved to treat HIV infection, but scientists from UVA Health at the University of Virginia found that patients taking them were less likely to develop the common form of dementia. There was a roughly 10% annual reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in people taking NRTIs for every year of use of these drugs, according to lead study author Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at UVA, who spoke to Fox News Digital about the finding. After coming across another mechanism that could potentially prevent Alzheimer's, the researchers analyzed 24 years of health insurance data, including 270,000 patients. The Alzheimer's risk reduction among patients taking NRTIs was "significant and substantial," the researchers wrote in the findings, which were published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. Now, the UVA team is calling for clinical trials of NRTIs to gauge their use for treating Alzheimer's. Approximately 10 million people worldwide are diagnosed with the common dementia each year. "This level of protection could translate into 60,000 fewer cases of Alzheimer's disease every year in our country, and up to one million fewer cases every year around the world," Ambati told Fox News Digital. In addition to keeping the HIV virus from replicating, NRTIs also prevent the activation of inflammasomes, proteins that are involved in the development of Alzheimer's. "We had previously shown that NRTIs blocked the inflammasome, so it wasn't altogether surprising that people taking NRTIs might be protecting against this disease," Ambati noted. "However, the degree of protection against Alzheimer's was quite surprising." "It is very possible that this drug may be useful in Alzheimer's prevention." Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News senior medical analyst, was not involved in the study but commented on the findings. "Inflammasomes are intracellular protein complexes that trigger the release of inflammatory cytokines," he told Fox News Digital. "HIV uses these inflammasomes to fight the immune system." "These chemicals are likely responsible for making Alzheimer's worse, or for accelerating the process of cognitive decline based on neuro-inflammation." Rebecca Edelmeyer, Ph.D., vice president of Scientific Engagement at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, also reviewed the study's findings, which she called "interesting." "Further research and specifically designed clinical trials are needed to fully understand the potential future use of NRTIs to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's, but the study highlights the potential role drug repurposing can play in advancing new Alzheimer's treatments," she told Fox News Digital. Repurposing existing drugs can offer a "promising pathway," according to Edelmayer. As existing drugs' safety and side effects are often already known, the studies can be quicker and less expensive than with new treatments, she added. The research team acknowledged some limitations of the study. "Like all retrospective health insurance database studies, the findings of our study are an association between this class of drugs and the development of Alzheimer's disease," Ambati told Fox News Digital. "They don't necessarily provide a cause and effect — however, the fact that we found this link in multiple databases increases confidence in this result." Siegel agreed that the new study is observational, but noted that it takes place over many years. "It also shows that only this particular HIV drug — inflammasome — dramatically decreases the risk of Alzheimer's, not the other HIV drugs, including protease inhibitors," the doctor said. "I think this is convincing preliminary evidence that warrants further study," Siegel added. "It is very possible that this drug may be useful in Alzheimer's prevention, given the increasing evidence implicating immune dysregulation and inflammation as causes of AD." Looking ahead, the researchers have developed a new drug called K9. Like NRTIs, the novel medication blocks inflammasomes, but is "safer and more effective," according to Ambati. "The fact that the new drug reversed memory loss and improved spatial learning in mice further increases confidence in our findings," he told Fox News Digital. The UVA team now plans to test K9 in clinical trials for Azheimer's. Ambati noted that people should not take NRTIs for Alzheimer's prevention unless they are in the context of a clinical trial. "If interested, they should be on the lookout for such trials for themselves or loved ones who may be affected," he advised. Nearly seven million people in the U.S. are currently living with Alzheimer's, and the number is expected to reach 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The UVA study was funded in part by the UVA Strategic Investment Fund and the National Institutes of Health.
Medical News Today
12-05-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Alzheimer's: HIV drugs may offer ‘significant' protection
New research suggests that HIV drugs may have a protective effect against Alzheimer's. Willie B. Thomas/Getty Images Researchers at UVA Health have found that a class of HIV drugs called nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) may significantly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Their large-scale analysis of United States health insurance data revealed that patients taking these medications had up to a 13% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease each year. Based on these findings, the team is calling for clinical trials to test whether these drugs could be used to help prevent Alzheimer's. In their new research, they found that people taking these medications are significantly less likely to develop the condition. The team had earlier discovered a possible biological mechanism explaining how the drugs might offer protection against Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia, responsible for approximately 60% to 80% of all cases in the United States. It most commonly begins in individuals ages 65 and older. Motivated by this, the researchers examined two major U.S. health insurance databases and found that the risk of developing Alzheimer's dropped by 6% per year in one dataset and by 13% per year in the other among patients on NRTIs. Jayakrishna Ambati, MD, founding director of UVA's Centre for Advanced Vision Science and a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and senior of the study, explained the key findings to Medical News Today : 'We analysed health insurance databases of tens of millions of people and made the surprising discovery that people taking a group of anti-HIV drugs called NRTIs had a ~10% reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease for every year that they took these drugs.' — Jayakrishna Ambati, MD NRTIs are commonly used to stop HIV from replicating in the body. However, Jayakrishna Ambati and his research team had previously found that these drugs also block the activation of inflammasomes, key immune system components that have been linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease. This discovery led them to investigate whether patients taking NRTIs, which also treat hepatitis B, might have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's. To explore this, the team analysed long-term health data from two major U.S. sources: 24 years of records from the Veterans Health Administration, which predominantly includes male patients, and 14 years from the MarketScan database, which covers a more diverse, commercially insured population. They focused on individuals ages 50 and older who were being treated for HIV or hepatitis B and who had no prior diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The researchers identified over 270,000 qualifying patients and assessed how many later developed Alzheimer's. After accounting for potential confounding factors, such as existing health conditions, they found that those taking NRTIs experienced a marked and meaningful reduction in Alzheimer's risk. The researchers observed that the reduced risk of Alzheimer's was specific to patients taking NRTIs and was not seen in those using other types of HIV medications. This distinction led them to conclude that NRTIs should be formally tested in clinical trials to assess their potential to prevent Alzheimer's disease. If proven effective, the impact could be substantial. With nearly 7 million Americans currently affected by Alzheimer's and projections indicating that number could double to 13 million by 2050, the need for preventive treatments is growing. In addition, the financial burden is expected to rise sharply, with the annual cost of care for Alzheimer's and related dementias projected to increase from $384 billion today to nearly $1 trillion in the coming decades, according to the Alzheimer's Association. 'It's estimated that 10 million people develop Alzheimer's disease around the world every year. A 10% reduction in risk could have a dramatic effect on the impact and burden of Alzheimer's,' Dr Ambati explained. 'There are some ongoing clinical trials of NRTIs in Alzheimer's disease that are showing some interesting anti-inflammatory effects. Since NRTIs can have some rare but serious side effects, we have developed a modified version called K9 that has the beneficial anti-inflammatory effect without those side effects. K9 is already in clinical for eye diseases, and we are planning to start trials in Alzheimer's disease as well.' — Jayakrishna Ambati James Giordano, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Neurology and Biochemistry, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, who was not involved in the research, told MNT that 'this is an interesting retrospective study.' 'It provides evidence that use of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) that have been used to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and which inhibit development of inflammasomes, is positively correlated to a reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease.' 'This is noteworthy in that several lines of converging evidence have shown that bodily and cerebral inflammatory states can induce production of both tau and amyloid proteins in brain that are contributory to the pathology of [Alzheimer's],' Giordano added. 'Inflammasomes are cellular proteins that aggregate and form discrete structures both in response to tau and amyloid aggregation, as well as following certain viral and bacterial infections, trauma, alterations in immune function, and exposure to various stressful environmental factors.' —James Giordano, PhD 'Inflammasomes induce changes in mitochondrial function, cell metabolism, calcium regulation, can contribute to the formation of neural plaques and tangles, and can induce a form of cell death, which has been implied in the genesis of Alzheimer's,' Giordano explained. Inflammation, NRTIs, and Alzheimer's 'This study strengthens the hypothesis that inflammasome-mediated inflammatory processes are operative in Alzheimer's and offers potential direction for the development of NRTI type drugs and molecular agents aimed at mitigating inflammasome development as a viable treatment – or perhaps preventive intervention – for Alzheimer's.' —James Giordano, PhD
