Drug improves Alzheimer's
Thursday, 10 Jan 2008 12:23
The drug improved the Alzheimer's patient's memory
Health In Focus
Another nail in the coffin for smokers? Catch out exclusive webchat to find out... Full Story
A patient with Alzheimer's disease has seen his condition improve within minutes of being given a new drug, scientists have announced.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California injected etanercept (trade name Enbrel) into the spine of an 81-year-old man who is in the early stages of the disease.
Before the drug, he performed poorly on cognitive tests and could not name his doctors or remember where he was.
But ten minutes after it was injected he could name both of these.
The results are published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
In an accompanying commentary Dr Susan Griffin, director of research at the Donald W Reynolds Institute on Aging, said it is "unprecedented" to see such improvements within minutes of therapeutic intervention.
"It is imperative that the medical and scientific communities immediately undertake to further investigate and characterise the physiologic mechanisms involved," she said.
"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."
Dr Griffin added: "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."
Alzheimer's Society chief executive Neil Hunt commented: "This particular report looks at the TNF alpha protein to see whether it dampens inflammation in the brain, possibly halting the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
"The findings from treatment of a single patient are reported in detail. It is crucial more research is carried out before any conclusions are drawn on TNF alpha and the development of Alzheimer's disease."