In the battle against Alzheimer’s disease, a potential medication has emerged from an unexpected corner — HIV treatment. Researchers have uncovered a link between reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors, commonly used to combat HIV, and a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Through an extensive analysis of anonymized medical and prescription data from more than 225,000 individuals, the study revealed that HIV-positive patients aged 60 and above who were prescribed RT inhibitors displayed a significantly lower incidence of Alzheimer’s compared to their counterparts not taking these medications and the general population.
RT inhibitors were originally developed to treat HIV, with a focus on recombining HIV-linked genes and inhibiting activity that keeps the virus latent and unable to develop into AIDS. This new study supports a growing hypothesis that RT inhibitors may also decrease progression of similar enzymes in the brain that link to Alzheimer’s.
A key study finding focuses on the cumulative incidence of new Alzheimer’s cases over the 2.75-year observation period. There were only around 3 cases (2.46) of AD diagnoses per 1,000 HIV-positive study participants taking RT inhibitors.
In contrast, the study reports, patients with HIV who did not receive RT inhibitors had a higher incidence of nearly 4 new Alzheimer’s cases (3.55) per 1,000 persons, while the general population control group exhibited the highest rate of about 6 cases per 1,000 individuals.
Interestingly, the protective effect of RT inhibitors was more pronounced in patients who were not concurrently taking protease inhibitors (PIs), another class of HIV medication. This finding suggests that PIs may counteract the beneficial effects of RT inhibitors on Alzheimer’s risk.
While the study’s retrospective nature warrants further investigation, these findings offer a glimmer of hope for all older adults grappling with Alzheimer’s.
