An HIV drug could fend off memory loss in middle-aged people, according to new research. The drug maraviroc could even stave off early onset dementia by helping people make links between different memories, a skill which tends to fade as we age.
Our brains sort memories into groups and rarely record single memories. This means remembering one thing triggers us to remember other things which are linked to it.
Scientists from the University of California Los Angeles focused on a gene called CCR5 that encodes the CCR5 receptor, the same one HIV uses to enter brain cells and cause memory loss in AIDS sufferers. The team had already found the gene reduces our ability to recall memories.
