ST. LOUIS – Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are making potential findings in delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms according to a study released last month.

This study recorded that those who removed an excess of amyloid plaques—which are “unusual clumps of a protein…along with degenerating bits of neurons and other cells”—had a delay in Alzheimer’s onset dementia.

A hypothesis proposes that too much of amyloid plaques in the brain lead to the first developments of dementia, and the trial supports the theory.

WashU noted that this was the first time this finding has occurred in a clinical trial.

The study examined 73 individuals who were “destined” to develop Alzheimer’s between their 30s and 50s. According to a release, all participants had “inherited genetic mutations that cause an overproduction of amyloid in the brain.”

Of those in the trial, 22 began taking the drug gantenerumab over the course of eight years, while they were not experiencing any symptoms yet. Their risk of developing onset symptoms had been decreased from 100% to about 50%, WashU noted.

“We don’t yet know how long they will remain symptom-free—maybe a few years or maybe decades,” Charles F. and Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology at WashU Medicine Randall Bateman, MD, said. “In order to give them the best opportunity to stay cognitively normal, we have continued treatment with another anti-amyloid antibody in hopes they will never develop symptoms at all. What we do know is that it’s possible at least to delay the onset of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and give people more years of healthy life.”

However, gantenerumab was discontinued and replaced for participants with a similar drug lecanemab, which the FDA approved in 2023. Data has not yet been analyzed as WashU awaits approval for a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“These exciting preliminary findings hint very clearly at the potential role of lowering beta amyloid in prevention of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Maria C. Carrillo, Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer and medical affairs lead, said in a release. “Discoveries like this convincingly illustrate why it is so important for research into Alzheimer’s and all diseases that cause dementia to continue, expand and accelerate.”

To read the full details of the trial from WashU, click here.