Contributed by: Dennis Fortier, President, Medical Care Corporation
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As we have chronicled in past posts, there are multiple agents for treating Alzheimer's disease in the FDA pipeline. One of the most advanced, and by many measures, most promising, is Dimebon.
The co-developers of this agent (Pfizer and Medivation) have announced two additional trials that are now enrolling subjects. While it is not completely understood, Dimebon appears to have a novel mechanism compared to the currently approved drugs Aricept, Razadyne, and Exelon, all of which are cholinesterase inhibitors and Namenda, which is a glutamate blocker. The mechanism is theorized to be one of improving mitochondrial function to promote ongoing cell health. The new trials will explore poly-therapy with Aricept and with Namenda.
To learn more details and to inquire about enrolling in the studies, please follow these links to the CONTACT study (or email contactstudy@medivation.com) and to the CONSTELLATION study (or call 1-877-377-4476).
Inflammation and AD
Contributed by: Michael Rafii, M.D., Ph.D - Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at the University of California, San Diego. ______________________________________
Microglia are the housekeepers of the brain, digesting foreign bodies and protecting neurons from damage. In culture, these cells are well known for ingesting amyloid-β, and in Alzheimer disease they surround amyloid deposits.
This leads to the hypothesis that the microglia may surround the plaques, but are essentially protecting the rest of the brain and not involved in modifying, depositing, or removing the plaques. The study also raises the possibility that cell-mediated inflammation does not promote more amyloid or more Aβ, which has been a hypothesis for a long time.
Microglia are the housekeepers of the brain, digesting foreign bodies and protecting neurons from damage. In culture, these cells are well known for ingesting amyloid-β, and in Alzheimer disease they surround amyloid deposits.
But in a study published in the October 18 Nature Neuroscience online, researchers in Germany have almost completely removed microglia from the brains of transgenic mice, and to their surprise they found absolutely no change in plaque size or number.
The Value of Memory Tests
Contributed by: Dennis Fortier, President, Medical Care Corporation
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In the news today you may read about the value of memory tests for identifying subtle memory loss at an early and more treatable stage. The findings are published in Neurology by a team of researchers at Oxford University.
In the study, the research team followed healthy volunteers for 20 years and assessed their memory at regular intervals. For those whose cognition eventually declined, the scientists were able to look back and identify specific, measurable signs of diminishing memory and language skills.
These findings are consistent with our understanding that many conditions that impair cognition, particularly Alzheimer's disease, follow a long course that slowly damages the brain. The findings are important because they speak to the potential for very accurate tests that detect subtle changes to facilitate much earlier intervention and better treatment results. Currently, most causes of dementia go undiagnosed for many years while unnecessary brain damage accumulates irreversibly.
________________________________________________
In the news today you may read about the value of memory tests for identifying subtle memory loss at an early and more treatable stage. The findings are published in Neurology by a team of researchers at Oxford University.
In the study, the research team followed healthy volunteers for 20 years and assessed their memory at regular intervals. For those whose cognition eventually declined, the scientists were able to look back and identify specific, measurable signs of diminishing memory and language skills.
These findings are consistent with our understanding that many conditions that impair cognition, particularly Alzheimer's disease, follow a long course that slowly damages the brain. The findings are important because they speak to the potential for very accurate tests that detect subtle changes to facilitate much earlier intervention and better treatment results. Currently, most causes of dementia go undiagnosed for many years while unnecessary brain damage accumulates irreversibly.
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