Drug shows promise as way to fight Alzheimer’s

Antidepressantmay slow suspect protein.

WASHINGTON— Research shows a common antidepressant may cut production of one of the chief suspects behind Alzheimer’s, a new avenue in the hunt for drugs to prevent the devastating brain disease.

It’s far too early for anyone worried about dementia to try the drug citalopram, which sells as the brand Celexa — and comes with side effects.

“This is not the great new hope. This is a small step,” cautioned Dr. Yvette Sheline of the University of Pennsylvania, who is leading the research with Dr. John Cirrito of Washington University in St. Louis.

Alzheimer’s is characterized by sticky plaques that form in patients’ brains 10 to 15 years before the first memory symptoms are noticed. Scientists have tried treatments to clear away those plaques, made of a protein named beta-amyloid that somehow goes awry and starts clumping together, but with no success yet.

Wednesday’s study is a somewhat different approach, beginning to explore if it’s possible to slow the plaque from building up by altering the body’s production of amyloid.

It will take years of additional research to tell if that translates into any protective effect. Citalopram and similar drugs called SSRIs alleviate depression by affecting levels of the brain chemical serotonin; Sheline said citalopram probably alters amyloid production in a completely different way.