In what has been described as a possible game changer for
patients suffering Alzheimer's disease,
an experimental drug aducanumab given
once a month for a year to patients in a clinical trial was found to clear the
brain of protein (amyloid) plaques which are believed to play a key role in disrupting
cellular processes and nerve cell communication processes in the brain. These
plaques are commonly seen in aging brains but Alzheimer’s patients tend to have
much more of these plaques.
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| One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of amyloid plaquesbetween nerve cells (neurons) in the brain |
The study included 165 participants divided into 4 groups and
treated with an intravenous infusion of either aducanumab or a placebo for over
54 weeks. The 4 groups of patients received 4 different doses of the
experimental drug and PET brain scans showed reduction in plaques at all doses and
duration with the greatest reduction observed in the highest dose group.
Of course, the fact that the study involved just a handful of
patients is something to be mindful of before making any firm conclusions, as well as how much this plaque reduction
translates to cognitive benefit for the patient. The researchers are mindful of
the fact that many other Alzheimer’s drugs have appeared promising but never
lived up.
It is known that these plaques begin to build up in Alzheimer’s patients’
years before the onset of symptoms. It is therefore encouraging that the plaques in the patients observed to have taken 20 years to accumulate were
removed in a 12 month period.
Medic-All 2016
