Advances Made Against Alzheimer's Disease (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News)-- New reports on verydifferent approaches to treating Alzheimer's disease could one day lead tobetter therapies for the mind-robbing condition, experts say.

A trio of studies that were expected to be presented Wednesday at theAlzheimer's Association 2008 International Conference on Alzheimer'sDisease in Chicago noted progress made on three different treatmentfronts.

The first finding involved a trial of a drug called dimebon, anantihistamine widely available in Russia, that is being tried forAlzheimer's disease even though there is no theoretical basis for its usein treating this condition.

"We don't understand what the mechanism of action is," said Dr. RalphNixon, a professor of psychiatry and cell biology at New York University,and a member of the Alzheimer's Association's scientific advisorycommittee. "It certainly has some effects on the brain that we will needto follow up on."

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 183people who had mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Mental functionremained stable in those taking the drug, while it declined in those givena placebo. Mental function also stabilized in people who were first givena placebo after they began taking dimebon.

The drug is getting its chance because of reports from Russia, Nixonsaid. "It had been used in Russia, and there were anecdotal reports thatit made people look brighter and function better while they were takingit," he said. Studies on the drug will continue, the researchers said.

Another trial used the body's immune system to prevent the mentaldeterioration suffered by people with Alzheimer's disease. The immuneattack is aimed at the deposits of beta-amyloid protein that accumulate inthe brains of patients.

"The idea has been around for almost a decade now," Nixon. "The initialnotion was to use the vaccine approach to prevent amyloid deposition,injecting amyloid so the body would attack the deposits. Now we are intophase two, injecting the antibody itself."

Researchers at Eli Lilly & Co. reported on 52 people with mild tomoderate Alzheimer's. Some were given weekly injections of a monoclonalantibody that binds to beta amyloid, while others were injected with aplacebo.

Detailed measurements showed an increased level of beta amyloid in bothblood and cerebrospinal fluid after 12 weeks in those getting theantibody, an indication that the beta amyloid in the brain might bestarting to dissolve, the researchers said. New studies of the therapy areplanned.

Nixon viewed the results with "tempered optimism." One interestingfinding was the response to the therapy was greatest in people who did nothave a known genetic marker for Alzheimer's risk, he said. "What is thesignificance of this? Why do carriers not respond?" Nixon asked. Theanswer might help explain Alzheimer's disease better, he said.

A third study using a broad spectrum of antibodies was reported by ateam at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. The treatment,originally developed by Baxter International to treat autoimmuneconditions, was given to 24 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer'sdisease in a set of trials extending as long as 18 months. Statisticallysignificant increases in mental function were seen in those getting thetreatment, the researchers said. A large-scale, 18-month follow-up trialwill be done.

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