Challenges of repurposing tetracyclines for the treatment of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

The novel antibiotic-exploiting strategy in the treatment of Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) disease has emerged as a potential breakthrough in the field. The research in animal AD/PD models provided evidence on the antiamyloidogenic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiapoptotic activity of tetracyclines, associated with cognitive improvement. The neuroprotective effects of minocycline and doxycycline in animals initiated investigation of their clinical efficacy in AD and PD patients which led to inconclusive results and additionally to insufficient safety data on a long-standing doxycycline and minocycline therapy in these patient populations. The safety issues should be considered in two levels; in AD/PD patients (particularly antibiotic-induced alteration of gut microbiota and its consequences), and as a world-wide threat of development of bacterial resistance to these antibiotics posed by a fact that AD and PD are widespread incurable diseases which require daily administered long-lasting antibiotic therapy. Recently proposed subantimicrobial doxycycline doses should be thoroughly explored for their effectiveness and long-term safety especially in AD/PD populations. Keeping in mind the antibacterial activity-related far-reaching undesirable effects both for the patients and globally, further work on repurposing these drugs for a long-standing therapy of AD/PD should consider the chemically modified tetracycline compounds tailored to lack antimicrobial but retain (or introduce) other activities effective against the AD/PD pathology. This strategy might reduce the risk of long-term therapy-related adverse effects (particularly gut-related ones) and development of bacterial resistance toward the tetracycline antibiotic agents but the therapeutic potential and desirable safety profile of such compounds in AD/PD patients need to be confirmed.

Amoxicillin-induced aseptic meningitis: case report and review of published cases
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OBJECTIVE: Amoxicillin-induced aseptic meningitis (AIAM) is an extremely rare adverse reaction with only 12 reported cases. The term aseptic meningitis refers to patients who have clinical and laboratory evidence for meningeal inflammation with negative routine bacterial cultures. Since the exact pathogenesis is still unknown and clinical signs and cerebrospinalfluid (CSF) findings vary greatly, AIAM is usually a diagnosis of exclusion. CASE SUMMARY: We report a clinical case of a patient referred to the clinical pharmacology outpatient clinic for consultation on suspected recurrent AIAM and a review of published cases. CONCLUSIONS: This report adds to the evidence-base of AIAM and emphasizes the importance of taking a thorough medication history in individuals with suspected meningitis. Considering the wide utilization of amoxicillin, it is important that healthcare providers are aware of AIAM.
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