Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represent two major health burdens with steadily increasing prevalence and accumulating evidence indicates a close relationship between the two disorders. In view of their similar pathogenesis, the potential of T2DM drugs for the treatment of AD has attracted considerable attention in recent years, with inspiring outcomes. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of a total of 14 individual drugs (among which are seven T2DM drug types) against AD. Further, we discuss the potential action mechanisms of these T2DM drugs against AD. We argue that these findings may open novel avenues for AD drug discovery, drug target identification, and cotreatment of the two disorders.

阿尔茨海默氏病（AD）和2型糖尿病（T2DM）代表着两个主要的健康负担，其患病率稳步上升，并且越来越多的证据表明这两种疾病之间存在密切的关系。鉴于其相似的发病机理，近年来T2DM药物在治疗AD方面的潜力吸引了相当多的关注，并产生了令人鼓舞的结果。在这里，我们提供了对14种药物（其中包括7种T2DM药物）对AD的影响的全面概述。此外，我们讨论了这些T2DM药物对抗AD的潜在作用机制。我们认为，这些发现可能为AD药物发现，药物靶标识别和两种疾病的共治开辟新途径。