Diabetes Drug Could Work Against Alzheimer's

Metformin, a drug used in type 2-diabetes might have the potential to also act against Alzheimer's disease. This has been shown in a study from scientists of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University of Dundee and the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics.
The researchers have found out that the diabetes drug metformin counteracts alterations of the cell structure protein Tau in mice nerve cells (Tau: major protein responsible for Alzheimer's disease) . These alterations are a main cause of the Alzheimer's disease, they uncovered the molecular mechanism of metformin in this process. To counteract this problem, researchers aimed at regulating the protein PP2A. This protein is normally responsible for removing phosphate groups from Tau protein. In Alzheimer's disease, PP2A is not active enough which  leads to an increased phosphorylation and deposition of Tau. In cell culture experiments with mouse nerve cells, the researchers showed that metformin directly protects PP2A against degradation by preventing the binding to special degradation proteins

I found it interesting that when tested on humans,there is no risk of unexpected side effects, due to the fact that the drug is already used against diabetes