Evaluation of the Therapeutic Effects of Trehalose in Patients With Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and, eventually, the ability to function independently. Despite the significant effort to understand the basic biology of the disease and pharmaceutical advances to develop drugs, there is no effective therapy available to treat AD or slow the disease progression.

β-amyloid accumulation outside brain cells and abnormal accumulations of tau protein inside neurons are taught to be two main changes in the brain that lead to AD. Progressive accumulation of β-amyloid interferes with the neuron-to-neuron communication at synapses, contributing to neural cell death. Also, tau tangles block the transport of nutrients and other essential molecules into the neurons. Many molecules have been shown to inhibit amyloid aggregation. The anti-amyloidogenic activity of trehalose was confirmed in both in vitro and in vivo studies and its inhibitory effects on β-amyloid formation in AD have also been demonstrated. Trehalose is a non-toxic disaccharide and no dose-dependent adverse effects were seen in any of the safety studies. It can act as a chemical chaperone and stabilizes the natively folded structure of protein and also trehalose has been identified as an autophagy inducer and promotes the clearance of aggregated proteins. Therefore, trehalose could be a valuable candidate for the treatment and prevention of amyloid-related disease. Based on the proposed hypothesis, this study aim to investigate the potential efficacy of trehalose administration in patients with AD.