The Combination of Aricept with a Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula, Smart Soup, May Be a Novel Way to Treat Alzheimer's Disease

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wang, Ying^{a; 1} | Wang, Ying^{b; 1} | Sui, Yi^c | Yu, Hongshuang^c | Shen, Xiaoheng^d | Chen, Shengdi^{a; b} | Pei, Gang^e | Zhao, Jian^{e; *} | Ding, Jianqing^{a; b; *}

Affiliations: [a] Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China | [b] Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China | [c] Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ruijin Medical College Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science, Shanghai, China | [d] Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ruijin Hospital Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China | [e] State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Jianqing Ding, Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China. Fax: +86 21 6445 7249; E-mail: jqding18@163.com and Jian Zhao, State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China. Fax: +86 21 5492 1372; E-mail: jzhao@sibs.ac.cn.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease affecting cognitive function in the elderly, which is characterized by the presence of extracellular deposits of insoluble amyloid-β plaques and neuronal loss. Modern pharmacology and drug development usually follow a single-target principle, which might contribute to the failure of most compounds in clinical trials against AD. Considering AD is a multifactorial disease, a combination therapeutic strategy that applies drugs with different mechanisms would be an alternative way. Smart Soup (SS), a Traditional Chinese Medicine formula, is composed of three herbaceous plants and has been applied in the treatment of amnesia in China for hundreds of years. In this work, we studied the clinical potency of the combination of SS and Aricept in AD therapy. In the in vivo model, both longevity and locomotive activity of AD transgenic Drosophila were improved remarkably in the combined medicine treated group. We also observed less amyloid-β deposition and retarded neuronal loss following the combined drug treatment. In the retrospective cohort study, we found the combination therapy exerted better therapeutic effect on AD patients. Our study revealed that combination therapy with multiple drug targets did have a better therapeutic outcome. It provides a new strategy to develop an optimum pharmaceutical approach against AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Smart Soup (SS), Aricept, combination therapy

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-143183

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 1185-1195, 2015