Editorial: cytokine inhibition for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Year: 2006
Type: editorial
Abstract: In this month's Neurology & Neurosurgery eSection of Medscape General Medicine, Tobinick and colleagues[1] present an open-label trial of a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha inhibitor (etanercept) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). They administered 25-50 mg of etanercept by extrathecal injection into a cervical spine interspinous space weekly for 6 months to 15 participants at stages of AD varying from mild to severe. They report significant improvements in several cognitive and functional assessments, including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), and Severe Impairment Battery (SIB). The improvements began at 1 month and were sustained for the 6-months duration of the trial. The authors highlight the response of one participant with advanced dementia who demonstrated significant functional improvement. Although the treatment is relatively invasive, it was well tolerated by the participants without evidence of any study-related adverse events. One participant died, but the clinical picture did not appear study-related.
Source: PubMed
Author: Paul B Rosenberg
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2764791883