This is a new review by Bush, unfortunately not a free paper. But for those who can read the paper I think it will tell how an iron chelator can or could prevent or treat AD.

Br J Pharmacol. 2019 Jan 10. doi: 10.1111/bph.14567. [Epub ahead of print]

Treating Alzheimer'sdisease by targeting iron.

Nikseresht S¹, Bush AI¹, Ayton S¹.

Author information

Abstract

No disease modifying drugs have been approved for Alzheimer'sdisease despite recent major investments by industry and governments throughout the world. The burden of Alzheimer'sdisease is becoming increasingly unsustainable, and given the last decade of clinical trial failures, a renewed understanding of the disease mechanism is called for, and trialling of new therapeutic approaches to slow disease progression is warranted. Here, we review the evidence and rational for targeting brain iron in Alzheimer'sdisease. While iron elevation in Alzheimer'sdisease was reported in the 1950s, renewed interest has been stimulated by the advancement of fluid and imaging biomarkers of brain iron that predict disease progression, and the recent discovery of the iron dependent cell death pathway termed ferroptosis. We review these emerging clinical and biochemical findings and propose how this pathway may be targeted therapeutically to slow Alzheimer'sdisease progression.