Supplementation with NAD+ Precursors for Treating Alzheimer’s Disease: A Metabolic Approach
Issue title: Therapeutic Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease: Where Are We Now?
Guest editors: Paula I. Moreira, Jesus Avila, Daniela Galimberti, Miguel A. Pappolla, Germán Plascencia-Villa, Aaron A. Sorensen, Xiongwei Zhu and George Perry
Affiliations: [a]
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| [b]
Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Mohammed Alghamdi, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. E-mail: mohammed.alghamdi@unsw.edu.au.
Abstract: Background:Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurocognitive disorder. There is no cure for AD. Maintenance on intracellular levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) has been reported to be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of AD. NAD+ precursors that represent candidate targets include nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR). Objective:This systematic review provides insights into the potential therapeutic value of NAD+ precursors including NMN and NR, for the treatment of AD using preclinical and clinical studies published in the last 5 years. Methods:The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol was followed to systematically search the literature using two databases. Results:We found 3 studies that used NMN to treat AD in preclinical murine models. However, human clinical trials using NMN as a therapeutic intervention in AD was not available in the current literature. We also found 4 studies that investigated the potential benefits of NR for the treatment of AD in preclinical models. We also found 2 human clinical trials that showed marked improvements in plasma and neuroimaging biomarkers, and cognitive measures following supplementation with NR. Conclusions:Results of preclinical and clinical studies confirm the potential benefits of NAD+ precursors for the treatment of AD. However, further clinical studies are required to confirm the increasingly important value of NAD+ precursors as effective pharmacological interventions in the clinic.
