Glaucoma and Alzheimer's May Have Common Origins and Treatment

LONDON, Aug. 6 -- A combination of drugs that target the amyloid-beta pathway implicated in Alzheimer's disease appear to be highly effective against glaucoma as well, at least in animal models, investigators here reported.
Action Points
Explain to patients that current methods for treating glaucoma, focused on controlling intraocular pressure to prevent nerve damage in the optic pathways, are effective, but the visual-field narrowing effects of glaucoma may progress in some patients despite normal intraocular tension.
Explain that researchers have found that drugs used to treat Alzheimer's disease may also prove helpful against glaucoma.
Note, however, that studies with these drugs have only been done in rats and use in humans may be a long way off.
Amyloid-b peptide, found to accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, accelerated the programmed death of retinal ganglion cells in rat models of glaucoma, but its action was prevented by three drugs that inhibit Ab formation and aggregation, wrote M. Francesca Cordeiro, M.D., of University College London, and colleagues. /.../