Drug used to treat high blood pressure could relieve Parkinson's, Huntington's ...

A drug that is used to treat high blood pressure may relieve Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's, research suggests.  

A study found felodipine reduced the toxic build-up of proteins in the brains of mice and zebrafish with neurodegenerative diseases.

Felodipine triggered the animals' 'defective cells' to undergo autophagy, when cells 'eat' themselves like 'Pac-Man', with the leftover waste being broken down.

Autophagy occurs naturally in healthy people but is impaired in those with diseases such as Alzheimer's.

The drug dose required was also lower than anticipated, prompting the University of Cambridge researchers to be 'cautiously optimistic' about their findings.

The team was led by Professor David Rubinsztein, deputy director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and professor of molecular neurogenetics.  

'This is the first time that we're aware of that a study has shown that an approved drug can slow the build-up of harmful proteins in the brains of mice using doses aiming to mimic the concentrations of the drug seen in humans,' he said.

'As a result, the drug was able to slow down progression of these potentially devastating conditions and so we believe it should be trialled in patients.'

Professor Rubinsztein added: 'This is only the first stage, though. The drug will need to be tested in patients to see if it has the same effects in humans as it does in mice. 

'We need to be cautious, but I would like to say we can be cautiously optimistic.'

Parkinson's, Huntington's and dementia are all examples of neurodegenerative diseases. 

These occur when neurones - cells that carry signals to and from the brain - lose their function over time and ultimately die. 

A common feature of these conditions is misfolded proteins, such as huntingtin in Huntington's disease and tau in some forms of dementia, the authors wrote in the journal Nature Communications. 

These proteins accumulate to cause irreversible damage to brain cells. And patients with neurodegenerative diseases are unable to clear these proteins due to their autophagy process being impaired.