# Novel Network Biology Approaches to Reposition FDA-approved Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2020 · $845,873

## Abstract

Project Summary
Alzheimer's disease (AD), in particular la‐te onset AD, is the most common form of dementia, accounting for
about two thirds of all the dementia cases, and its pathogenesis may start decades early before its actual clinic
manifestation. The search for disease modifying treatments is the primary objective of most rigorous
therapeutic research efforts on AD. However, AD is currently incurable and available therapies are only
effective in partially alleviating selected AD clinical symptoms, but not its onset and/or progression. The unmet
need for the timely development of potent therapies for AD has been constantly growing with the heavy burden
on our healthcare system reaching a critical level. There is an urgent need to reinvigorate AD drug
development by utilizing systems biology, especially network biology approaches which have the potential to
present not only global landscape of pathway-pathway interactions but also detailed molecular
interaction/regulation circuits underlying AD. Network biology approaches to integrate large-scale multi-omics
data in AD have demonstrated that differentially regulated subnetworks in AD, which regulate diverse AD
pathogenic phenotypes, often include a large number of key regulators. Therefore, drugs and drug
combinations that can modulate such subnetworks as a whole are the most pertinent for therapeutic
intervention and have better chance to be successful. In this application, we propose to develop novel
molecular network based drug repositioning approaches to identify individual FDA approved drugs as well as
their combinations that can potentially reverse molecular signatures and network states of AD. A large number
of predicted drugs and drug combinations will be tested in multiple model systems including mouse brain
primary cells, human iPSC derived brain cells and AD mouse models. This project will establish an integrative
platform comprised of highly innovative systems and experimental biology components for rapid drug discovery
for AD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10032808
- **Project number:** 1R01AG068030-01
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristen Jennifer Brennand
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $845,873
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10032808

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10032808, Novel Network Biology Approaches to Reposition FDA-approved Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease (1R01AG068030-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10032808. Licensed CC0.

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