Medical Dialogues
  • Dermatology
Login Register
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Login Register
  • MD Brand Connect
  • Vaccine Hub
  • MDTV
    • Breaking News
    • Medical News Today
    • Health News Today
    • Latest
    • Journal Club
    • Medico Legal Update
    • Latest Webinars
    • MD Shorts
    • Health Dialogues
  • Fact Check
  • Health Dialogues
Medical Dialogues
  • Medical News & Guidelines
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
      • Doctor News
      • Government Policies
      • Hospital & Diagnostics
      • International Health News
      • Medical Organization News
      • Medico Legal News
      • NBE News
      • NMC News
  • Fact Check
      • Bone Health Fact Check
      • Brain Health Fact Check
      • Cancer Related Fact Check
      • Child Care Fact Check
      • Dental and oral health fact check
      • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
      • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
      • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
      • Fitness fact check
      • Gut health fact check
      • Heart health fact check
      • Kidney health fact check
      • Medical education fact check
      • Men's health fact check
      • Respiratory fact check
      • Skin and hair care fact check
      • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
      • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Siddha
    • Unani
    • Yoga
  • State News
      • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Arunachal Pradesh
      • Assam
      • Bihar
      • Chandigarh
      • Chattisgarh
      • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
      • Daman and Diu
      • Delhi
      • Goa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Himachal Pradesh
      • Jammu & Kashmir
      • Jharkhand
      • Karnataka
      • Kerala
      • Ladakh
      • Lakshadweep
      • Madhya Pradesh
      • Maharashtra
      • Manipur
      • Meghalaya
      • Mizoram
      • Nagaland
      • Odisha
      • Puducherry
      • Punjab
      • Rajasthan
      • Sikkim
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Telangana
      • Tripura
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Uttrakhand
      • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
      • Ayush Education News
      • Dentistry Education News
      • Medical Admission News
      • Medical Colleges News
      • Medical Courses News
      • Medical Universities News
      • Nursing education News
      • Paramedical Education News
      • Study Abroad
  • Industry
      • Health Investment News
      • Health Startup News
      • Medical Devices News
      • Pharma News
      • Pharmacy Education News
      • Industry Perspective
  • MDTV
      • Health Dialogues MDTV
      • Health News today MDTV
      • Latest Videos MDTV
      • Latest Webinars MDTV
      • MD shorts MDTV
      • Medical News Today MDTV
      • Medico Legal Update MDTV
      • Top Videos MDTV
      • Health Perspectives MDTV
      • Journal Club MDTV
      • Medical Dialogues Show
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
LoginRegister
Medical Dialogues
LoginRegister
  • Home
  • Medical news & Guidelines
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
    • Doctor News
    • Government Policies
    • Hospital & Diagnostics
    • International Health News
    • Medical Organization News
    • Medico Legal News
    • NBE News
    • NMC News
  • Fact Check
    • Bone Health Fact Check
    • Brain Health Fact Check
    • Cancer Related Fact Check
    • Child Care Fact Check
    • Dental and oral health fact check
    • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
    • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
    • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
    • Fitness fact check
    • Gut health fact check
    • Heart health fact check
    • Kidney health fact check
    • Medical education fact check
    • Men's health fact check
    • Respiratory fact check
    • Skin and hair care fact check
    • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
    • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
      • Ayurveda Giuidelines
      • Ayurveda News
    • Homeopathy
      • Homeopathy Guidelines
      • Homeopathy News
    • Siddha
      • Siddha Guidelines
      • Siddha News
    • Unani
      • Unani Guidelines
      • Unani News
    • Yoga
      • Yoga Guidelines
      • Yoga News
  • State News
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Arunachal Pradesh
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chandigarh
    • Chattisgarh
    • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
    • Daman and Diu
    • Delhi
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Haryana
    • Himachal Pradesh
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Jharkhand
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Ladakh
    • Lakshadweep
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Manipur
    • Meghalaya
    • Mizoram
    • Nagaland
    • Odisha
    • Puducherry
    • Punjab
    • Rajasthan
    • Sikkim
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
    • Tripura
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • Uttrakhand
    • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
    • Ayush Education News
    • Dentistry Education News
    • Medical Admission News
    • Medical Colleges News
    • Medical Courses News
    • Medical Universities News
    • Nursing education News
    • Paramedical Education News
    • Study Abroad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
      • CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) News
    • Pharmacy Education News
    • Industry Perspective
  • Home
  • Neurology and Neurosurgery
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery News
  • Researchers find...

Researchers find faster way to deliver Alzheimer's drug by opening the blood-brain barrier

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2024-01-12T18:30:32+05:30  |  Updated On 13 Jan 2024 4:33 PM IST
Researchers find faster way to deliver Alzheimers drug by opening the blood-brain barrier
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • Telegram
  • Email

USA: Findings from a proof-of-concept trial revealed lower cerebral amyloid-beta levels in Alzheimer's disease with Aducanumab (Aduhelm) infusions combined with focused ultrasound.

In the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the investigational treatment involved creating an opening in the blood-brain barrier with MRI-guided focused ultrasound to boost drug delivery.

In each of the three participants who received aducanumab infusions, amyloid reduction was higher in brain regions targeted with focused ultrasound than in regions not exposed to focused ultrasound.

In patients with Alzheimer’s disease, anti-amyloid antibodies have been used to reduce cerebral amyloid-beta (Aβ) load. Ali Rezai, MD, of West Virginia University in Morgantown, and colleagues applied focused ultrasound with each of six monthly aducanumab infusions to temporarily open the blood–brain barrier to enhance amyloid removal in selected brain regions in three participants over 6 months.

"The reduction in Aβ level was numerically greater in regions treated with focused ultrasound than in the homologous regions in the contralateral hemisphere that were not treated with focused ultrasound, as measured by fluorine-18 florbetaben positron-emission tomography," the researchers wrote.

Cognitive tests and safety evaluations were conducted for 30 to 180 days after treatment.

The three participants in the trial were a 77-year-old man (participant 1), a 59-year-old man (participant 2), and a 64-year-old woman (participant 3). All received an Alzheimer's disease diagnosis within the year before enrollment. None had previously received aducanumab therapy and none carried an APOE4 allele.

For 6 months, participants received monthly IV aducanumab, escalated up to 6 mg/kg rather than the on-label dose. Opening the blood-brain barrier with focused ultrasound initiated 2 hours after each infusion. The blood-brain barrier closed within 24 to 48 hours after the procedure.

Focused ultrasound was applied to areas with high beta-amyloid in the frontal or temporal lobe or the hippocampus. In the contralateral hemisphere, homologous brain regions that were not exposed to focused ultrasound served as controls.

Participants 1 and 2 had no cognitive, neurologic, or behavioural changes at their last follow-up visit. On day 30 of follow-up, there was a decline in Participant 3's cognitive test scores, but she showed no neurologic change or change in activity of daily living scores.

The researchers led to the following findings:

  • From baseline to the 26-week assessment, PET scans showed that focused ultrasound combined with aducanumab led to a drop in amyloid levels from 224.2 to 115.2 centiloids in Participant 1, from 185.6 to 104.6 centiloids in Participant 2, and from 251.5 to 84.9 centiloids in participant 3.
  • Contralateral brain regions that did not have focused ultrasound showed little change in amyloid levels from baseline to 26 weeks.
  • An average 32% reduction in SUVR [standardized uptake value ratio] was observed for the three participants combined after 26 weeks in the regions that had received treatment to open the blood-brain barrier and six combination treatments.
  • Headaches were the most common adverse events and were mild except for one moderate headache.
  • One participant had two severe adverse events during the focused ultrasound treatment due to discomfort with head and neck positioning; this resolved immediately after the procedure. No amyloid-related imaging abnormalities were seen.
  • Low-intensity focused ultrasound has reversibly opened the blood-brain barrier in people with Alzheimer's disease or other neurologic disorders, including brain tumours, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The findings were consistent with those of mouse studies that demonstrated increased penetration of aducanumab when combined with focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier.

However, the authors acknowledged that the trial did not quantify monoclonal antibody penetration, and therefore enhanced delivery of the monoclonal antibody was not directly shown.

"Our study involved small tissue volumes in one side of the brain of only three patients," the researchers wrote. "Larger trials are needed and expanding treatment to both sides of the brain is crucial to determine efficacy."

Reference:

Rezai AR, et al "Ultrasound blood–brain barrier opening and aducanumab in Alzheimer's disease" N Engl J Med 2024; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2308719.


The New England Journal of Medicineblood-brain barrierAlzheimer
Source : The New England Journal of Medicine
Medha Baranwal
Medha Baranwal

    MSc. Biotechnology

    Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
    Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

    Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

    Show Full Article
    Next Story

    Editorial

    Dapagliflozin Shines in Post-TAVI Patients:DAPA-TAVI Trial Findings

    Dapagliflozin Shines in Post-TAVI Patients:DAPA-TAVI Trial Findings

    Identifying Candidates for Aspirin in Primary Prevention: Men Aged 40-50 with Hypertension, Dyslipidemia, and Familial ASCVD Risk

    Identifying Candidates for Aspirin in Primary Prevention: Men Aged 40-50 with Hypertension,...

    Featured image representing thinking

    Is Pharma Marketing Going Through "Thinking Recession"?

    Beyond BMI: Why Pioglitazone Deserves a Place in Managing Thin-Fat Type 2 Diabetes in India

    Beyond BMI: Why Pioglitazone Deserves a Place in Managing 'Thin-Fat' Type 2 Diabetes in India

    How to Improve Adherence in Hypertensive Patients? Bridging the Gap with CONNECT Tool

    How to Improve Adherence in Hypertensive Patients? Bridging the Gap with CONNECT Tool

    View All

    Journal Club Today

    Sensitive Skin Explained: Signs, Triggers and Skincare Tips by Dr. Aparajita Lamba

    Sensitive Skin Explained: Signs, Triggers and Skincare Tips by Dr. Aparajita Lamba

    View All

    Health News Today

    Health Bulletin 5/July/ 2025

    Health Bulletin 5/July/ 2025

    View All
    © 2022 All Rights Reserved.
    Powered By: Hocalwire
    X
    We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by continuing to use our site. To know more, see our Cookie Policy and Cookie Settings.Ok