Drug Predicts Alzheimer's Disease?

(American Health Newswire)-- Having a loved one diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease can be devastating, especially without warning.

 

Now a recent study shows how doctors may be able to diagnose the disease earlier. Early detection would give more time for family members to prepare for the devastating disease.

 

Currently, Alzheimer's disease can only be definitively confirmed through the detection of amyloid plaques and/or tangles in the brain during autopsy after death or with a brain tissue biopsy. The new method uses the drug florbetaben as a tracer during a PET scan of the brain to visualize amyloid plaques during life.

 

The global phase III study directly compared brain regions in the PET scan to respective brain regions after death during autopsy to prove that the florbetaben PET scan detects beta-amyloid in the brain.

 

The study consisted of 200 participants nearing death (including both participants with suspected Alzheimer's disease and those without known dementia) and who were willing to donate their brain underwent MRI and florbetaben PET scan. The amount of plaque found in the 31 participants who reached autopsy was then compared to the results of the scans. A total of 186 brain regions from these donors were analyzed along with 60 brain regions from healthy volunteers. Based on these 246 brain regions the study found florbetaben to detect beta-amyloid with a sensitivity of 77 percent and a specificity of 94 percent.
 

After comparing the visual assessment method proposed for florbetaben for clinical practice with the post mortem diagnosis a sensitivity of 100 percent and a specificity of 92 percent was revealed. Sensitivity is the percentage of actual positives that are correctly identified as positive, and specificity is the percentage of negatives that are correctly identified.

 

"These results confirm that florbetaben is able to detect beta-amyloid plaques in the brain during life with great accuracy and is a suitable biomarker," Marwan Sabbagh, MD, study author director of Banner Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, Arizona, was quoted as saying. "This is an easy, non-invasive way to assist an Alzheimer's diagnosis at an early stage. Also exciting is the possibility of using florbetaben as tool in future therapeutic clinical research studies where therapy goals focus on reducing levels of beta-amyloid in the brain."

 

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting, April 15, 2012

Brain Tumor Vaccine

 
   
Michael Wulfe shouldn't even be alive -- much less running six miles uphill.

 

"Every time I do get to the top, I stop for just a second, and in my head, say a very short prayer that I am here on top of the hill, feeling like a normal, perfect, healthy person," Michael Wulfe, brain tumor survivor told American Health.

 

Wulfe was diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor -- called glioblastoma -- nearly four years ago. Most patients only live 14 months doctors believe Wulfe is still alive thanks to an experimental vaccine that targets this difficult to treat cancer.

 

"I think it's probably the most devastating cancer I know of," Keith L. Black, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in  

With glioblastomas, surgeons can remove 99-percent of the tumor. The problem is what you can't see. Tiny, microscopic cells that are left behind multiply and resist treatments. Those cells are like roots of a weed -- the weed keeps growing if there's still a root.

 

"So, if that cell is left behind, then tumors can always grow from them," John S. Yu, M.D., Director of the Brain Tumor Center of Excellence at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said.

 

The vaccine targets the root. Doctors draw a patient's blood and isolate something called dendritic cells. They then place special proteins on those cells, and inject them back into the patient. The now "smart" cells ignite the immune system and tell it to attack the "bad" tumor cells.

 

"So, instead of going after the entire army, we're going after the general or the emperor," Dr. Yu said.

 

Three vaccines are given two weeks apart. In a phase one study, the survival of patients jumped from 26 percent to 80 percent.

 

Wulfe was one of the lucky ones. He's still cancer-free and enjoying the freedom of the outdoors.  

 

"You clear your head of everything. I'm a normal person, huffing to get air into lung and make it up the hill." Wulfe stated.

 

A man who continues to defy the odds with every hill he climbs.

 

Doctors say the vaccine has fewer side effects than traditional therapies because it activates the immune system and doesn't destroy it like chemotherapy. 

Researchers speculate this phenomenon could be the result of increased usage of video chat technology, an aging baby boomer population and a desire for success in the workplace.

"The chin and jawline are among the first areas to show signs of aging. People are considering chin augmentation as a way to restore their youthful look just like a facelift or eyelid surgery," Malcolm Z. Roth, MD President ASPS was quoted as saying. "We also know that as more people see themselves on video chat technology, they may notice that their jawline is not as sharp as they want it to be. Chin implants can make a dramatic difference."

 

 

 

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