Cholesterol-lowering statins increase your risk of Alzheimer’s. a new study has discovered.
The drugs deplete levels of a protein—ABCA7—which protects against the disease. Taking the drug can lower levels of the protein by as much as 40 percent, and that could be enough to trigger Alzheimer’s, say researchers from the Temple University Health System.
In earlier research, they established the protein protects against Alzheimer’s, and people aged between 63 and 78 who had low levels were much more likely to develop the disease.
In their new research project, the researchers wanted to understand the interaction between the protein, inflammation and statins. Using brain cell lines, they reduced levels of ABCA7 before feeding the cells doses of the statin, rosuvastatin. The drug suppressed cholesterol synthesis, so once levels had been depleted in the cells, the statin stopped further production of the protein.
In another test, the same cell lines were exposed to cytokines, molecules that can trigger inflammation.
Levels of the protein fell by between 40 and 20 percent, enough to cause Alzheimer’s. “Cholesterol depletion and inflammation may reduce ABCA7 levels in the brain and cause the onset of Alzheimer’s disease,” said lead researcher Nicholas Lyssenko.
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