{"id":232009,"date":"2026-02-25T01:06:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/common-anti-seizure-drug-prevents-alzheimers-plaques-from-forming"},"modified":"2026-02-25T01:06:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:06:47","slug":"common-anti-seizure-drug-prevents-alzheimers-plaques-from-forming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/common-anti-seizure-drug-prevents-alzheimers-plaques-from-forming","title":{"rendered":"Common anti-seizure drug prevents Alzheimer\u2019s plaques from forming"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At the heart of the new discovery is amyloid precursor protein (APP), a protein that plays important roles in brain development and synaptic formation. Abnormal processing of APP can lead to the production of amyloid\u2011beta peptides, which play a central role in the development of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The scientists found that how APP is trafficked also controls whether a neuron forms amyloid-beta 42.<\/p>\n

During the synaptic vesicle cycle \u2014 a fundamental process that underlies every thought, movement, memory or sensation \u2014 levetiracetam binds to a protein called SV2A. This interaction slows down a step in which neurons recycle synaptic vesicle components from the cell\u2019s surface. By pausing this recycling process, the drug enables APP to remain on the cell\u2019s surface longer, diverting it away from the pathway that produces toxic amyloid\u2011beta 42 proteins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our 30s, 40s and 50s, our brains are generally able to steer proteins away from harmful pathways,\u201d the author said. \u201cAs we age, that protective ability gradually weakens. This is not a statement of disease; this is just a part of aging. But in brains developing Alzheimer\u2019s, too many neurons go astray, and that\u2019s when you get amyloid-beta 42 production. And then it\u2019s tau (or \u2018tangles\u2019), and then it\u2019s dead cells, then dementia, then neuroinflammation \u2014 and then it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

To effectively prevent Alzheimer\u2019s symptoms, high-risk individuals would need to begin taking levetiracetam \u201cvery, very early,\u201d the author said, possibly up to 20 years before the new FDA-approved Alzheimer\u2019s disease test would even capture mildly elevated levels of amyloid-beta 42.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t take this when you already have dementia because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death,\u201d the author said.<\/p>\n

Leveraging its status as an FDA-approved and widely used drug, the team mined existing human clinical data to investigate whether Alzheimer\u2019s patients who took levetiracetam experienced slowed cognitive decline. They obtained clinical data from the National Alzheimer\u2019s Coordinating Center and conducted a correlative analysis, finding that Alzheimer\u2019s patients who took levetiracetam were associated with a significant delay from the diagnosis of cognitive decline to death compared to those taking lorazepam or no\/other anti-epileptic drugs. ScienceMission sciencenewshighlights.<\/p>\n

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Continue reading \u201cCommon anti-seizure drug prevents Alzheimer\u2019s plaques from forming\u201d | ><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the heart of the new discovery is amyloid precursor protein (APP), a protein that plays important roles in brain development and synaptic formation. Abnormal processing of APP can lead to the production of amyloid\u2011beta peptides, which play a central role in the development of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The scientists found that how APP is trafficked [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,269,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-life-extension","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}