Evaluation of Lithium as a Glycogen-Synthase-Kinase-3 (GSK-3) Inhibitor in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Summary

The project is designed to generate critical information to design and justify a robust trial on lithium prevention of the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Lithium exerts and inhibitory effect on Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) a brain biomarker of neuroprotection. The study consists of 3 phases: 1. Phase 1 investigates rats to establish a reliable method to measure brain biomarker activity levels from blood biomarker activity. 2. Phase 2 will determine whether the GSK3 enzyme activity is significantly different in subjects with MCI compared to normal individuals. 3. Phase 3 investigates patients with MCI taking lithium to establish the minimum lithium dose required to inhibit the activity of GSK-3.

Timeline

Start

2016-08

Primary completion

2017-06

Completion

2017-06

Publications

• Results Duthie A, van Aalten L, MacDonald C, McNeilly A, Gallagher J, Geddes J, Lovestone S, Sutherland C. Recruitment, Retainment, and Biomarkers of Response; A Pilot Trial of Lithium in Humans With Mild Cognitive Impairment. Front Mol Neurosci. 2019 Jun 28;12:163. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2019.00163. eCollection 2019.

Drugs

Indications