Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38427489›Full record

ArticleJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2024

Sildenafil as a Candidate Drug for Alzheimer's Disease: Real-World Patient Data Observation and Mechanistic Observations from Patient-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons.

Dhruv Gohel, Pengyue Zhang, Amit Kumar Gupta, Yichen Li, Chien-Wei Chiang, Lang Li, Yuan Hou, Andrew A Pieper, Jeffrey Cummings, Feixiong Cheng

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
4.2field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. PDE5 inhibition restores mitochondrial function and improves neurobehavioral outcomes after repeated mild blast TBI.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026
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  7. Network-based prediction and real-world patient data observation identify doxycycline as a repurposable drug in Alzheimer's disease.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026
    Article
  8. Review
  9. Boosting Neurogenesis as a Strategy in Treating Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Dhruv GohelGenomic Medicine Institute,Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Pengyue ZhangDepartment of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Amit Kumar GuptaGenomic Medicine Institute,Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Yichen LiGenomic Medicine Institute,Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Chien-Wei ChiangDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Lang LiDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Yuan HouGenomic Medicine Institute,Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Andrew A PieperBrain Health Medicines Center, Harrington Discovery Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Jeffrey CummingsDepartment of Brain Health, School of Integrated Health Sciences, Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Feixiong ChengGenomic Medicine Institute,Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine · USThe Ohio State University · USIndiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis · USUniversity Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center · USUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas · US

Funding

National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (NCRAD)U24AG021886 · NIA · INDIANA UNIV-PURDUE UNIV AT INDIANAPOLIS · PI TATIANA M. FOROUD · 2002 to 2026
$119.8M
Trial-Ready Cohort for Preclinical/Prodromal Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG053798 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · PI AISEN, PAUL S., CUMMINGS, JEFFREY L. · 2017 to 2022
$39.4M
Translational and Therapeutics CoreP30AG072959 · NIA · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI JAGAN AYYAPPAN PILLAI · 2021 to 2026
$23.9M
Renewal of Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) (Phase 2) CNTN - ResubmissionP20GM109025 · NIGMS · CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION · PI Robert J. Fox, Jefferson Kinney · 2015 to 2026
$22.8M
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Detection, Diagnosis, Course, and Risk FactorsU01NS093334 · NINDS · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI CUMMINGS, JEFFREY L., REIMAN, ERIC MICHAEL · 2016 to 2022
$17.0M
Endophenotype Network-based Approaches to Prediction and Population-based Validation of In Silico Drug Repurposing for Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG066707 · NIA · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI Feixiong Cheng · 2020 to 2026
$4.9M
TREM2 Genotype-Informed Drug Repurposing and Combination Therapy Design for Alzheimer’s DiseaseR01AG076448 · NIA · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI Feixiong Cheng, Li Gan · 2022 to 2026
$4.0M
Alzheimer's MultiOme Data Repurposing: Artificial Intelligence, Network Medicine, and Therapeutics DiscoveryU01AG073323 · NIA · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI BEKRIS, LYNN, CHENG, FEIXIONG · 2021 to 2025
$4.0M
Alzheimer's Clinical Trial InnOvatioN (ACTION) InitiativeR35AG071476 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS · PI CUMMINGS, JEFFREY L. · 2021 to 2025
$2.9M
Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia-like Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Virus-Host Interactome, Neuropathobiology, and Drug RepurposingRF1AG082211 · NIA · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI CHENG, FEIXIONG, PIEPER, ANDREW A · 2023 to 2023
$2.4M
Characterize neuronal and glial cell-specific vulnerability to proteinopathies in Alzheimer's disease using multimodal single-nuclei genomic and epigenomic approachesR01AG082118 · NIA · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI BONAKDARPOUR, BORNA, CHENG, FEIXIONG · 2023 to 2025
$2.4M
Dark GPCR signaling underlying the Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis for Alzheimer's Disease and Related DementiaRF1NS133812 · NINDS · CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU · PI BROWN, JONATHAN MARK, CHENG, FEIXIONG · 2023 to 2023
$2.3M
BLRD VA I01 BX005976NIA NIH HHS K08 AG065463NIA NIH HHS P30 AG072959NIA NIH HHS R01 AG053798NIA NIH HHS R01 AG066707NIA NIH HHS R01 AG076448NIA NIH HHS R01 AG082118NIA NIH HHS R01 AG084250NIA NIH HHS R21 AG083003NIA NIH HHS R35 AG071476NIA NIH HHS R56 AG057478NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG048083NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG082211NIA NIH HHS U01 AG073323NIA NIH HHS U24 AG021886NIGMS NIH HHS P20 GM109025NINDS NIH HHS RF1 NS133812NINDS NIH HHS U01 NS093334
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease needing effective therapeutics urgently. Sildenafil, one of the approved phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, has been implicated as having potential effect in AD. Objective: To investigate the potential therapeutic benefit of sildenafil on AD. Methods: We performed real-world patient data analysis using the MarketScan® Medicare Supplemental and the Clinformatics® databases. We conducted propensity score-stratified analyses after adjusting confounding factors (i.e., sex, age, race, and comorbidities). We used both familial and sporadic AD patient induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) derived neurons to evaluate the sildenafil's mechanism-of-action. Results: We showed that sildenafil usage is associated with reduced likelihood of AD across four new drug compactor cohorts, including bumetanide, furosemide, spironolactone, and nifedipine. For instance, sildenafil usage is associated with a 54% reduced incidence of AD in MarketScan® (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.46, 95% CI 0.32- 0.66) and a 30% reduced prevalence of AD in Clinformatics® (HR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.49- 1.00) compared to spironolactone. We found that sildenafil treatment reduced tau hyperphosphorylation (pTau181 and pTau205) in a dose-dependent manner in both familial and sporadic AD patient iPSC-derived neurons. RNA-sequencing data analysis of sildenafil-treated AD patient iPSC-derived neurons reveals that sildenafil specifically target AD related genes and pathobiological pathways, mechanistically supporting the beneficial effect of sildenafil in AD. Conclusions: These real-world patient data validation and mechanistic observations from patient iPSC-derived neurons further suggested that sildenafil is a potential repurposable drug for AD. Yet, randomized clinical trials are warranted to validate the causal treatment effects of sildenafil in AD.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseInduced Pluripotent Stem CellsNeurodegenerative DiseasesAgedHumansMedicareNeuronsSildenafil CitrateSpironolactonetau ProteinsUnited StatesSildenafil CitrateSpironolactonetau Proteinsinduced pluripotent stem cellsKeywordsAlzheimer’s diseasephosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5)real-world patient dataRNA-sequencingsildenafiltau phosphorylation

Identifiers

PMID38427489
PMCPMC10977448
OpenAlexW4392388227

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.