ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1628876
Nilotinib and Imatinib: Potential Candidates for Treatment of Dementia and Parkinson's Disease Through National Health Insurance Data
Provisionally accepted
- 1Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2Korea University Guro Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 3Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 4Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 5Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Background Real-world evidence on the potential of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for dementia and Parkinson's Disease (PD) is crucial. This observational study aimed to evaluate TKIs, particularly nilotinib and imatinib, as potential therapeutic agents for these conditions. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, 5,579 cancer patients who were prescribed TKIs (users; ≥ 40 years) within 5 years were used, while propensity score-matched patients without any record of TKIs (never users) served as the reference. An association of TKIs with dementia and PD was assessed by Fine-Gray Model with adjusted-competitive hazard ratios (aCHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs): [aCHRs (95% CIs; p-value)]. Results The risk of dementia decreased when all type of TKIs [0.65 (0.48-0.88; <0.01)], imatinib [0.66 (0.48-0.89; <0.01)], and nilotinib [0.46 (0.23-0.93; <0.05)] was used in cancer patients. Additionally, the reduced risk of PD was identified in the users of all [0.56 (0.33-0.97; <0.05)] and imatinib [0.55 (0.32-0.96; <0.05)]. When the risk was evaluated according to the number of times for total usage, the aCHRs for PD in the low, middle, and high-frequency groups were 0.46 (0.20-1.02), 0.78 (0.40-1.54), and 0.40 (0.15-1.05), respectively. The risk of dementia was 0.68 (0.46-0.99), 0.57 (0.36-0.90), and 0.71 (0.44-1.17) in order of frequency (from low to high). Conclusion As an observational study indicated a decreased risk of dementia and PD with long-term TKI use, imatinib and nilotinib may serve as potential therapeutic agents for these conditions, with more evidence from rigorous clinical trials to validate.
Keywords: Parkinson's disease, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, Drug Repositioning, Dementia, nilotinib, Imatinib (Gleevec
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Song, Park, Kim and Park. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sang Min Park, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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