Immunotherapy Tied to Lower Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatments, the addition of beneficial antibodies into the blood stream, may have the potential for lowering the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other similar brain disorders, according to recent research.

The study's findings were published in the July 21, 2009, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "In our study, we looked at the association of the use of intravenous immunoglobulin with the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease. IVIg has been used safely for more than 20 years to treat other diseases but is thought to have an indirect effect on AD by targeting beta-amyloid, or plaques in the brain,” said Howard Fillit, M.D., from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, NY, USA).

For the study, researchers examined the medical records of 847 individuals given at least one treatment of IVIg over four years and 84,700 who were not given IVIg treatment. Participants were treated for immune deficiencies, leukemia, or other types of cancer, anemia, and other diseases. The records were gathered from a database of 20 million patients age 65 or older developed by SDI Health (Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA), a healthcare analytics organization. Scientists made certain that the groups were similar in their risk factors for AD.

The study found that people who received IVIg for other conditions had a 42% lower risk of developing AD over four years compared to those who did not receive IVIg. Only 2.8% of those treated with IVIg developed Alzheimer's disease compared with 4.8% of those not treated with immune-based therapy.

"Our study provides evidence that previous IVIg treatments may protect against Alzheimer's disease,” said Dr. Fillit. "The current Alzheimer's drugs on the market treat the symptoms of the disease. Immunization could treat the underlying cause.”

"These findings do not constitute an endorsement of IVIg treatment for Alzheimer's disease. A large scale clinical trial is underway to determine whether IVIg could be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's,” researchers wrote in their article.

The study was supported by Baxter International, Inc. (Deerfield, IL, USA), a manufacturer of IVIg.

Related Links:
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
SDI Health