Cholesterol drug shows effectiveness against dementia, according to Italian study

Rome.- A team of Italian researchers has discovered that bezafibrate, a medication commonly used to reduce cholesterol, can be used effectively in the treatment of frontotemporal dementia, a serious neurodegenerative disease with no known cure to date.

The finding was led by Silvia Di Angelantonio, from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Sapienza University of Rome, in collaboration with Paola Bezzi, from the same university and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). The results have been published in the scientific journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. “The research team, through laboratory tests conducted on brain organoids, has demonstrated the effectiveness of bezafibrate, a well-known drug used to reduce cholesterol, in counteracting some typical indicators of frontotemporal dementia,” the IIT said in a statement. The research used brain organoids – small three-dimensional models of neuronal tissue grown in the laboratory – obtained from cells of patients with a hereditary form of frontotemporal dementia caused by mutations in the tau protein. These mutations cause an abnormal accumulation of this protein, which damages neuronal connections and reduces brain activity, and treatment with bezafibrate in these models managed to significantly improve the connectivity between neurons and reduce the pathological accumulation of the tau protein.

 “Bezafibrate has shown the ability to support neuronal development and reduce tau accumulation. It is a promising step towards new therapies for tauopathies,” Di Angelantonio stated in the note.

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Researchers now plan to refine these models to more faithfully imitate brain aging, including immune system cells, and to deepen the study of neural networks using advanced electrophysiological techniques. The study, funded by several Italian public bodies, opens a potential avenue for reusing a drug already approved in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia.