Diseases leading to neurological degeneration have always been a worry of the medical fraternity. Taking cue from the growing concerns, the pharmaceutical companies across the world have been throughly banking on producing and developing costly medications for diseases like Alzheimer’s.
But, here is a good, rather relieving news for those who are suffering from the disease. Your body itself has the capability to fight the disease – yes, there are some naturally occurring antibodies in human blood that may help defend against not just Alzheimer’s, but also other neurodegenerative diseases.
Thanks to the researchers at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center for finding that the antibodies selectively target beta amyloid protein-aggregates — called oligomers.
These protein aggregates are toxic to brain cells, but ignore the benign single-molecule forms of the same proteins. Though, these antibodies were found in animal studies, it is for the first time, their presence in normal human blood is found in substantial quantities.
Stumbling upon these antibodies, during testing of an antibody-based immunotherapy called Intravenous Immunoglobulin — a potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s — Dr. Norman Relkin, a behavioral neurologist and neuroscientist explained,
The effects of IVIG in lowering beta amyloid levels in Alzheimer’s patients in our Phase I clinical trial were much more profound than we expected. We couldn’t readily explain this based on the low levels of anti-amyloid antibodies known to be present in IVIG. We suspected there might be another, unseen player.
The finding clearly reveals a breakthrough to an effective, natural remedy to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and that they have a clinical benefit to such patients.