The use of certain cancer drugs or a stimulating environment appear to restore the memories of laboratory mice that have symptoms mimicking Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers say.

The results offer hope for people with dementia, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Picower Institute of Learning and Memory.

For the study, bioengineered mice got their memories back after either being placed in stimulating environments or given a drug most commonly used to fight cancer. An “enriched” environment had shelves, perches, nesting material and tunnels. The study results were published online in the journal Nature.