Overview

• A UVA Health study found that nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), used for HIV and hepatitis B, reduce Alzheimer’s risk by 6–13% annually.
• The protective effect is attributed to NRTIs’ ability to inhibit inflammasome activation, reducing neuroinflammation linked to Alzheimer’s progression.
• Researchers analyzed over 270,000 patient records from two major U.S. health databases, confirming the specificity of NRTIs’ benefits compared to other HIV drugs.
• The findings, published in *Alzheimer’s & Dementia*, prompt calls for clinical trials to evaluate NRTIs as preventive therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
• UVA researchers also developed K9, a safer inflammasome-blocking derivative of NRTIs, which is being prepared for Alzheimer’s-focused trials.