No treatment can effectively slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, but that could change with the hope that immunotherapy has aroused. This therapy has been shown to be effective against cancer and autoimmune diseases and could be of great benefit in neurological diseases, due to the link between the immune system and the nervous system.
The study published in Brain highlighted the link between immunity and Alzheimer’s. French and German researchers have shown that interleukin-2 (IL-2), an immune system molecule, can control inflammation in brain cells, implicated in neurodegeneration, and restore cognitive function in animals. By studying brain biopsies from deceased Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers found a lower level of interleukin-2 in them. Conversely, model mice with a low level of IL-2 develop learning and memory disorders similar to those encountered in this disease.
The brain reactivates
Interleukin-2 is already being studied in autoimmune diseases for its ability to stimulate regulatory T-cells that control inflammation. As neurodegeneration develops neuroinflammation, which increases degeneration, the researchers wanted to know if interleukin-2 could decrease the inflammatory process, and therefore improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. They thus administered a treatment to model mice of Alzheimer’s disease at a stage where they were already developing lesions.
Result: the treatment activates regulatory T lymphocytes and reduces amyloid plaques, symptomatic of Alzheimer’s. This allows tissue remodeling and an improvement in the structure and function of synapses (the junction between two neurons in the brain that allow the exchange of information). Rodents have thus recovered their memory deficits. Unlike the untreated mice, those that received the therapy had the same memory test results as perfectly healthy mice. For the authors, “this work demonstrates the value of immunotherapies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and in particular the value of interleukin-2. Its therapeutic potential will now have to be evaluated in humans ”.
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