PARIS - An experimental treatment of Alzheimer`s disease where genetically modified tissue is surgically inserted into the patient`s brain appears to reduce the rate of cognitive decline, according to preliminary results of a US study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Eight volunteers with mild Alzheimer`s disease, aged 54 to 76, took part in the experiment, according to researchers at the University of California in San Diego who conducted the study.
Alzheimers is a brain disorder that gradually destroys a persons memory and other cognitive abilities making the victim unable to communicate and carry out daily activities.
In the first-ever gene therapy for Alzheimer`s, the study found that the rate of disease progression seemed to be reduced by 36-51 percent for a mean period of nearly two years using two common measures of cognitive function in Alzheimer`s.
In the six to 18 months immediately following the treatment, cognition apparently improved or stabilized in five of the six subjects who completed the therapy, the study said.
Current approved medications for treating Alzheimer`s have an estimated impact on these cognitive measures of five percent, and are not known to affect decline over prolonged periods, the study said.
"If validated in further clinical trials, this would represent a substanially more effective therapy than current treatments for Alzheimer`s disease," said Mark Tuszynski, the study`s principal investigator.
The study, however, did not include a comparative placebo group and researchers cautioned that the preliminary results were only for the Phase 1 trial and more clinical tests were needed.
04/24/2005 17:00 GMT