Intravenous immunoglobulins for Alzheimer's disease

The finding that autoantibodies in the sera of patients with AD bind to neurons, including cytotoxic autoantibodies to cholinergic neurons, suggested that autoimmunity is associated with the development of AD. 2 More recent humoral and cellular immune studies have further implicated autoimmunity in AD. 3 Inflammation is also thought to contribute to neuronal death in AD. Epidemiological studies have reported a reduced risk for AD in patients taking anti-inflammatory drugs. As a result, several clinical trials of anti-inflammatory therapies for patients with AD, including prednisone, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors, were done. None of these treatments had a beneficial effect. 4