Posted on 04/12/2008 11:37:55 AM PDT by Lathspell
Scientists claim videos are proof of breakthrough
An injection that dramatically relieved the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease within minutes would qualify as the discovery of the decade. That is exactly what was claimed yesterday for an experimental treatment being tested in America.
Scientists at the Institute for Neurological Research at the University of California have treated around 50 patients at a private clinic by injecting an anti-arthritic drug, etanercept, into the spinal column in the neck and then tilting the patients to encourage the drug to flow to the brain.
They claim 90 per cent respond to the treatment, usually within minutes, and have released videos of patients to prove it.
In one, a nurse sits down with an 82-year-old patient, Marvin Millar, who frowns and mumbles incoherently as she asks him identify everyday objects such as a bracelet and a pencil, which he is unable to do.
But five minutes after being injected with etanercept according to the film which was supplied and edited by the clinic he greets his wife. Visibly shocked, she says he has not recognised her for years. Mr Miller then hugs her.
In a separate interview, also supplied by the clinic, she describes his improvements four weeks later, saying he makes sense 90 per cent of the time now, compared with none of the time before treatment started.
After the BBC reported the claims yesterday, callers jammed the Alzheimer's Society's helpline demanding details of the treatment.
Experts urged caution, warning that the drug had been tried on only a very few patients and, crucially, had not been tested against a placebo in a randomised controlled trial.
Etanercept is not a new drug, but this is a novel use of it. The California researchers injected it between the cervical vertebrae at the back of the neck, just below the skull, directly into the spinal column. Tilting is thought to encourage the drug to cross the blood-brain barrier. In arthritis, the drug blocks a chemical tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) which causes inflammation and pain in the joints. It is thought TNF may also influence inflammation in the brain, and that by damping down the process the drug may preserve brain function.
Professor Edward Tobinick, who is leading the research, said: "What we see is an improvement in ability to think and calculate, memory improves, verbal ability improves, [patients] find words easier, they seem happier and we often also see an improvement in gait in patients whose gait is affected."
The researchers said improvement usually continued with weekly injections until it reached a plateau at about three months. Some patients had been taking it for three years. But they have only published details of 15 patients in a pilot study.
An estimated 400,000 people suffer from Alzheim-er's disease in the UK and claims for new treatments are seized upon by relatives, desperate for any straw to clutch. Suzanne Sorenson, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said she had been sceptical of the claims when she heard about them in January but having seen the film foot-age, considered it was now time to run a trial.
"On the surface these results are exciting but we need to treat the study with caution," she said. "There are large gaps in the resear-ch, which used a small pilot group. We cannot draw conclusions until a controlled trial is carried out."
Clive Holmes, professor of biological psychiatry at Southampton University, a centre for research on dementia, said he was prepared to test the drug.
"The evidence from basic science suggests it is worth giving these drugs a trial to see if there is evidence on a larger basis," he said.
The elusive search for a cure
*A hundred years after Alzheimer's disease was discovered, a cure for the progressive neurodegenerative condition remains a distant dream. Despite dramatic breakthroughsin other areas, there has been little to celebrate in Alzheimer's. The main advance has been drugs to control symptoms such as agitation and restlessness. But restoring memory and cognitive ability has proved much harder.
The condition is caused by an accumulation of protein deposits in the brain which produce the symptoms of dementia.
There are three drugs with claims to halt the disease's progression (though not reverse it), Aricept, Reminyl and Exelon. In 2005 their NHS use was restricted to the moderate stage of the disease as opposed to early or late stages by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence because of their limited effect.
If it’s not double blind, you could prep the area normally then prick the skin but not go to the actual depth for the injection or actually inject anything. I’m pretty sure a doctor would be able to give the impression the real shot was given without doing anything that dangerous.
ping
The process for new used for already approved drugs is much quicker. Additionally, off label use of medication is generally legal.
Thanks for posting & links (although video not seen in links, bob). Thanks to all contributors.
Ping.
Fascinating.
Health/Life BUMP!
I’m a lot skeptical that you can cure a degenerative disease that inflicts years worth of damages in a few minutes. It would be great if true, however.
Heh heh. Nobody says you have to give it to her...
Thanks for posting this
2. As is said in the diabetes world, "It's a treatment, not a cure."
3. I guess there's one more treatment that doesn't require fetal stem cells....
Very recent research indicates that Alzheimer’s is another manifestation of type two diabetes in that new memory is created when insulin facilitates the uptake of glucose into a brain cell neuron. Alzheimer’s patients have limited ability to create new memory because of this type of “insulin resistance”. In type two diabetics it is the inability of insulin to facilitiate efficient uptake of glucose into skeletal muscles and the accumulation of excess levels of serum glucose that forms the generally accepted definition of type two diabetes and the related concepts of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and syndrome X.
I have recently developed a novel mechanism for temporarily circumventing the type two diabetic form of insulin resistance and I am optimistic it will have similar effects on the insulin resistance that impedes the formation of new memory in Alzheimer’s patients.
Helps to read the article.
Within minutes? Incredible!
No, a placebo is necessary as a control. Proper test methodology requires a known "null" set to determine whether or not there is a statistically significant difference between those who were treated, and those who were not.
It's possible that this is a "placebo" response on the part of the caregiver. She sees a shot, and then notices that "Biff is much better." But is that a projection of her own wishes, or is it real? That's what the placebo trials help to catch.
Hopefully there really is a huge difference ... but without actually testing for it, you don't know.
On the plus side, this treatment allegedly works so quickly that if it's a real effect, the "placebo" group could end up getting it pretty quickly, too.
'Course, given that the treatment involves passing the "blood-brain barrier," it would be pretty bad if this drug ended up causing strokes. You've got to test for those side-effects, too.
But if the medication has already been approved for arthritis, how difficult would it be to allow the drug to have an alternative use?
Lets not rush the approval process. The last promising alzhiemers treatment was an antibody against the plaque that forms in the brain. At first it caused a greeat reduction in plaque and partial restoration of function. Then all the patients started dying of an autoimmune response.
BUMP!
Bump!
My wonderful Mother in Law had it for about the last 10 years of her life. It was so sad to see her decline. My Father in Law took care of her at home, God bless him. She was too difficult to travel with after awhile, so they stopped traveling. He died of a heart attack after a very short illness, and she died less than 48 hours later. I’m so sorry about your mother. It’s like they are stolen from you.
susie
Thanks for the ping!
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