For over a century, Alzheimer’s disease has been considered irreversible, but a groundbreaking study from University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland VA is challenging that assumption. Researchers have successfully reversed advanced Alzheimer’s in mice, achieving full cognitive recovery by restoring the brain’s energy balance.
Dr. Andrew Pieper, director of the Brain Health Medicines Center at University Hospitals and senior author of the study, emphasizes this represents a fundamental shift in understanding the disease. “The key takeaway is a message of hope – the effects of Alzheimer’s disease may not be inevitably permanent,” Pieper explained. “The damaged brain can, under some conditions, repair itself and regain function.”
The research, published in Cell Reports Medicine, focuses on NAD+, a cellular energy molecule that declines naturally with age. The team discovered that NAD+ levels drop even more dramatically in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains. By using a compound called P7C3-A20 developed in Pieper’s lab, researchers were able to stabilize NAD+ levels in two different mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.
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