A drug commonly used to stop diarrhea could be a potentially effective candidate for improving some symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), such as problems socializing or communicating. This surprising finding could mark a new roadmap in the treatment of social difficulties linked to this mental disorder, which until now has no therapy approved for it in Europe, and the antipsychotics used have serious side effects.
Precisely because of the lack of drugs that have proven to be effective against this central symptom of ASD, a study led by the University of Oslo (Norway) used a computer model to analyze drug data networks already approved for other health conditions in search of which could be useful to be reused in children or adults with autism.
For their search, the authors built a protein interaction network that included some that were related to autism and that were related to several known drugs. Loperamide (known by the trade names of Fortasec®, Salvacolina®, Loperan®, Diarfin®, Elissan® or Imodium®, among others), which is often used to treat diarrhea, was the drug that had the best results in the protein interaction tests performed on a computer, which revealed that it might be able to help socialization and communication difficulties in people with autism. The results have been published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology.
This antidiarrheal also improves gastrointestinal symptoms
As the researchers explain, they believe that loperamide is capable of binding and activating a protein that is often affected by opioid drugs, such as morphine. In addition to the effects caused by opioid drugs, such as pain relief, the receptor could also interfere with social behavior.
Mice in which the u-opioid receptors were genetically deleted had social difficulties similar to those of patients with autism
Earlier studies had shown that mice that had been genetically modified to lack the u-opioid receptor had social difficulties similar to those seen in patients with autism. Thus, drugs that activate the receptor were effective in restoring social behaviors.
Loperamide, or other drugs targeting the receptor, could be a good way to improve symptoms related to socialization in autism, and they also seem to have beneficial gastrointestinal effects, as these types of problems also often occur in patients. Even so, more studies are needed to corroborate this hypothesis.
.
