Medical genetics-based drug repurposing for Alzheimer's disease

• We found 3 Alzheimer's disease (AD) associated genes are targeted by 23 drugs.
• These drugs may be used to treat AD according to the medical genetic information.
• Experiments revealed that 4 drugs (ACE inhibitors) had potential to treat AD.
• Medical genetics-based drug repurposing can be used in anti-AD drug discovery.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a disease that threatens the elderly. No efficient therapeutic method is currently available to combat AD. Drug repurposing has provided a new route for AD drug discovery, and medical genetics has shown potential in target-based drug repurposing. We compared AD-associated genes with approved drug targets and found that three are targeted by 23 approved drugs. Thus, these drugs may be used to treat AD according to the medical genetic information of the targets. In vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that four drugs, all of which are angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, had potential to treat AD.