Researchers at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have found that semaglutide, a popular diabetes and weight loss drug, may lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to seven other antidiabetic drugs. .
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, nearly 7 million Americans age 65 and older live with the disease, and there are more deaths from Alzheimer’s disease than breast and prostate cancer combined.
The study, published today in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, suggests that T2D patients taking semaglutide had a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. These results were consistent across different subgroups, including obesity status, gender and age.
Semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide receptor molecule (GLP-1R) that reduces hunger and helps regulate blood sugar levels in T2D, is also the active ingredient in the diabetes and weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.
The research team – led by professor of biomedical informatics Rong Xu – analyzed three years of electronic records of almost 1 million American patients with T2D. The researchers used a statistical approach that mimics a randomized clinical trial.
They found that patients prescribed semaglutide had a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compared with those who had taken one of seven other antidiabetic drugs, including other types of GLP-1R-targeting drugs.
About 120,000 Americans die from Alzheimer’s disease every year, with the disease being the seventh leading cause of death nationally, according to the CDC.
“This new study provides real-world evidence for its impact on Alzheimer’s disease, even as preclinical research has suggested that semaglutide could protect against neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation,” said Xu, who also directs the Center for AI in Drug Discovery from medical school and is a researcher. member of the Case Cancer Comprehensive Center’s Cancer Genomics Epigenomics Program.
While their findings may support the idea that semaglutide could prevent Alzheimer’s disease, the study’s limitations prevent researchers from drawing firm causal conclusions, she said.
Our results indicate that further research into the use of semaglutide should be further explored through randomized clinical trials so that alternative drugs can be tested as potential treatments for this debilitating disease.”
Rong Xu, professor of biomedical informatics
The research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, both parts of the National Institutes of Health, under award numbers AG057557, AG061388, AG062272, AG076649 and TR004528. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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Magazine reference:
Wang, W., et al. (2024) Associations of semaglutide with the first diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in patients with type 2 diabetes: target study emulation using nationwide real-world data in the US. Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. doi.org/10.1002/alz.14313.