Reversing Alzheimers within minutes/Margaret

[Guest guest]

Have you all seen this yet; it just came out. Cosidering our kids are so

susceptible to Alzheimer's this holds alot of interest for us. Margaret this is

a med (aka Enbrel) used for autoimmune inflammation which piqued my interest

immediately as it is a treatment for IBD, don't know about sclero. One small

glitch....it has to be adminstered spinally in order to pass thru the blood

brain barrier and effect a treatment for Alzheimers. (For IBS, and RA etc. it is

just a shot or a pill, can't remember). Have you ever had Gareth's TNF checked

in all your travels? Gotta look back at J's labs to see. I'm not too sure we

could talk anyone into giving her a spinal (ICK ICK ICK) but I'd sure want to be

in on the trials if I had a relative with already diagnosed Alzheimers.

Sherry

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109091102.htm

Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes In Human Study

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 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.

Similarly, the Neurotechnology Industry Organization has recently selected

new treatment targets revealed by neuroimmunology (such as excess TNF) as

one of the top 10 Neuroscience Trends of 2007. And the Dana Alliance for

Brain Initiatives has chosen the pilot study using perispinal etanercept for

Alzheimer's for inclusion and discussion in their 2007 Progress Report on

Brain Research.

The lead author of the study, Tobinick M.D., is an assistant clinical

professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and

director of the Institute for Neurological Research, a private medical group

in Los Angeles. Hyman Gross, M.D., clinical professor of neurology at the

University of Southern California, was co-author.

The study is accompanied by an extensive commentary by Sue , Ph.D.,

director of research at the W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at the

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock and at the

Geriatric Research and Clinical Center at the VA Hospital in Little Rock,

who along with Mrak, M.D., chairman of pathology at University of

Toledo Medical School, are editors-in-chief of the Journal of

Neuroinflammation.

and Mrak are pioneers in the field of neuroinflammation.

published a landmark study in 1989 describing the association of cytokine

overexpression in the brain and Alzheimer's disease. Her research helped

pave the way for the findings of the present study. has recently

been selected for membership in the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, a

nonprofit organization of more than 200 leading neuroscientists, including

ten Nobel laureates.

" It is unprecedented that we can see cognitive and behavioral improvement in

a patient with established dementia within minutes of therapeutic

intervention, " said . " It is imperative that the medical and

scientific communities immediately undertake to further investigate and

characterize the physiologic mechanisms involved. This gives all of us in

Alzheimer's research a tremendous new clue about new avenues of research,

which is so exciting and so needed in the field of Alzheimer's. Even though

this report predominantly discusses a single patient, it is of significant

scientific interest because of the potential insight it may give into the

processes involved in the brain dysfunction of Alzheimer's. "

While the article discusses one patient, many other patients with mild to

severe Alzheimer's received the treatment and all have shown sustained and

marked improvement.

The new study, entitled " Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease

following perispinal etanercept administration, " and the accompanying

commentary, entitled " Perispinal etanercept: Potential as an Alzheimer's

therapeutic, " are available on the Web site of the Journal of

Neuroinflammation

(http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/5/1/2/abstract).

Author Hyman Gross, M.D., has no competing interests. Author

Tobinick, M.D. owns stock in Amgen, the manufacturer of etanercept, and has

multiple issued and pending patents assigned to TACT IP LLC that describe

the parenteral and perispinal use of etanercept for the treatment of

Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, including, but not

limited to, U.S. patents 6015557, 6177077, 6419934, 6419944, 6537549,

6982089, 7214658 and Australian patent 758523.