medwireNews: Use of dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors may reduce amyloid burden in people with cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), suggests an imaging study.
Phil Hyu Lee (Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea) and co-researchers explain that DPP-4 inhibitors have demonstrated neuroprotective properties in preclinical studies, supported by clinical reports of more favorable cognitive outcomes in people with AD or mild cognitive impairment using the medication class.
In this cross-sectional imaging study, using positron emission tomography, the 70 AD patients who had been taking DPP-4 inhibitors for a median of 3.38 years for concurrent diabetes had a significantly lower global amyloid burden than the 71 with diabetes who were not taking these medications.
Their amyloid burden was also significantly lower than that of 141 AD patients who did not have diabetes.
The researchers note that DPP-4 inhibitor use was associated with a lower amyloid burden “in the frontal, lateral parietal, lateral temporal, and anterior/posterior cingulate cortices, which are the main structures involved in AD.”
Moreover, during a median follow-up of 30 months, users of DPP-4 inhibitors had a significantly smaller average decline in total Mini-Mental State Examination score and the memory recall subscore. This was independent of factors including age, sex, education, and APOE ε4 carrier status.
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