The University of South Florida conducted a study, reporting how granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), a signaling protein released during rheumatoid arthritis, alleviates symptoms and risks of Alzheimer’s disease.
On Monday, the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease published online the results of the study. Foundation of the study started with previous studies about rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. According to those studies, patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis were unlikely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, as compared with people without the arthritis.
Following this information, researchers tested for three rheumatoid arthritis growth factors in mouse subjects. Among the three factors, GM-CSF showed the highest level on mice with the arthritis.
Subsequently, they conducted another study with two groups of mice. Scientists altered the genetics of the first group of subject to mimic a memory degenerative condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease, while they kept the other group with normal aged mice.
Researchers introduced GM-CSF in the body of Alzheimer’s-affected group. After series of testing, cognitively impaired group showed drastic changes. The test subject portrays better performances on behavioral test than initially recorded. Moreover, scientists deduced that after the course of treatment with GM-CSF, treated mice exhibited level behaviors parallel with normal aged mice.
Researchers provided another two sets of mouse subjects. This time, they injected placeboes. At the end of the study, Alzheimer’s-affected mice showed poorer performance than previously noticed.
Researchers explained that high levels of GM-CSF stimulated the body to form natural scavenger cells that destroy and remove Alzheimer’s amyloid deposits accumulated in the brain. Furthermore, they stated that GM-CSF elevation during pain attacks in rheumatoid arthritis promotes positive inflammatory response in the brain.
The process attracts macrophages, which is the body’s natural attacking cells, to move towards the brain part thus may result in disintegration of plaques caused by Alzheimer’s disease.
Leukine, a name under Bayer, is a recombinant human form of GM-CSF. The drug is out in the market and has the indication for the treatment of cancer. The purpose of the study suggests formation of another project to test the drug’s effectiveness on human subjects affected with Alzheimer’s disease.
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