Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes

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Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes

10 Jan 2008

An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time

documents marked improvement in Alzheimer's disease within minutes of

administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in

the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

This new study highlights the importance of certain soluble proteins,

called cytokines, in Alzheimer's disease. The study focuses on one of

these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a critical

component of the brain's immune system. Normally, TNF finely

regulates the transmission of neural impulses in the brain. The

authors hypothesized that elevated levels of TNF in Alzheimer's

disease interfere with this regulation. To reduce elevated TNF, the

authors gave patients an injection of an anti-TNF therapeutic called

etanercept. Excess TNF-alpha has been documented in the cerebrospinal

fluid of patients with Alzheimer's.

The new study documents a dramatic and unprecedented therapeutic

effect in an Alzheimer's patient: improvement within minutes

following delivery of perispinal etanercept, which is etanercept

given by injection in the spine. Etanercept (trade name Enbrel) binds

and inactivates excess TNF. Etanercept is FDA approved to treat a

number of immune-mediated disorders and is used off label in the

study.

The use of anti-TNF therapeutics as a new treatment choice for many

diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and potentially even

Alzheimer's, was recently chosen as one of the top 10 health stories

of 2007 by the Harvard Health Letter.

Read More:

http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=93508