A New Approach to Alzheimer Disease

In a preclinical study, an antibody currently being studied for prion disease also shows positive findings for the biological substrate of memory.

Prion protein (PrP), which is induced in prion disease, promotes aggregation of the neurotoxic amyloid-β protein in Alzheimer disease (AD). Also, extracts from brains with AD are known to disrupt hippocampal long-term potentiation, the neurobiological substrate of memory. Investigators in the U.K. studied the effect of a monoclonal humanized rodent anti-PrP antibody (PRN100) given to rats that also received AD brain extract.

Systemic or intracerebral infusion of PRN100 prevented the inhibitory effect of AD brain extract on hippocampal long-term potentiation. No neurotoxic adverse outcomes were seen. A single systemic injection produced therapeutic but not toxic levels in cerebrospinal fluid.

Reviewing Author

Steven Dubovsky, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportTower Foundation; Patrick Lee Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim; Intra-Cellular Therapies; Janssen; Biogen; Allergan

Editorial BoardsMind and Brain; Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic; Current Psychiatry; Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Steven Dubovsky, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportTower Foundation; Patrick Lee Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim; Intra-Cellular Therapies; Janssen; Biogen; Allergan

Editorial BoardsMind and Brain; Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic; Current Psychiatry; Journal of Psychosomatic Research

A New Approach to Alzheimer Disease

Topics

Reviewing Author