Dr. Tobinick Biography

Dr. Edward Tobinick, MD.  Medical Director for the Institute for Neurological Research at the UCLA Medical Plaza

Edward Tobinick MD, the Founder of the INR, has invented and pioneered innovative treatment approaches for a diverse variety of medical conditions with widespread unmet medical need[1-15]. These conditions include stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, intractable sciatica and other neuroinflammatory disorders; and a number of additional neurological, retinal, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Through October 2010 Dr. Tobinick has been awarded twenty U.S. patents and an Australian patent, with multiple additional pending U.S. and foreign patents. His published papers and patents have been cited by hundreds of scientific articles and patent applications from leading academic centers and pharmaceutical companies around the world[16-89]. Scientific researchers from major academic medical centers both in the U.S. and abroad have performed collaborative research with Dr. Tobinick to investigate his unique methods designed to deliver large molecules to the brain by bypassing the blood-brain barrier. In 2007 the anti-TNF (etanercept) pilot study for Alzheimer’s Disease conducted by Dr. Tobinick and his colleagues was recognized and cited by the prestigious Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives in their Progress Report on Brain Research.  There is world-wide interest in Dr. Tobinick’s scientific work[16-89].

Dr. Tobinick graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude with honors in biology from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, received his M.D. from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in La Jolla, California, and completed post-graduate residencies at UCLA. He is the founder of the Institute of Neurological Recovery in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California and the INR PLLC in Boca Raton, Florida. Dr. Tobinick has been an invited expert reviewer for the journals Brain Research, CNS Drugs, Current Alzheimer Research, Experimental Neurology, Future Neurology, Journal of Neurochemistry, Journal of Neuroimmunology, Neuroscience, and Pharmaceutical Medicine and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

Dr. Tobinick is the inventor of innovative methods of use of etanercept for the treatment of sciatica, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and other neuroinflammatory disorders. His pioneering inventions are strongly supported by the medical literature, including randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled evidence (for a sample of recent publications please see the following):

1.  Cohen SP, Bogduk N, Dragovich A et al. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-response, and preclinical safety study of transforaminal epidural etanercept for the treatment of sciatica. Anesthesiology, 110(5), 1116-1126 (2009).

2.  Chio CC, Lin JW, Chang MW et al. Therapeutic evaluation of etanercept in a model of traumatic brain injury. J Neurochem, 115(4), 921-929 (2010).

3. Frankola KA, Greig NH, Luo W, Tweedie D. Targeting TNF-alpha to Elucidate and Ameliorate Neuroinflammation in Neurodegenerative Diseases. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets, 10(3), 391-403 (2011).

4. Kato K, Kikuchi S, Shubayev VI, Myers RR. Distribution and tumor necrosis factor-alpha isoform binding specificity of locally administered etanercept into injured and uninjured rat sciatic nerve. Neuroscience, 160(2), 492-500 (2009).

5.  Kato K, Liu H, Kikuchi S, Myers RR, Shubayev VI. Immediate anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (etanercept) therapy enhances axonal regeneration after sciatic nerve crush. J Neurosci Res, 88(2), 360-368 (2010).

6. Shen CH, Tsai RY, Shih MS et al. Etanercept restores the antinociceptive effect of morphine and suppresses spinal neuroinflammation in morphine-tolerant rats. Anesth Analg, 112(2), 454-459 (2011).

7. Watanabe K, Yabuki S, Sekiguchi M, Kikuchi SI, Konno SI. Etanercept attenuates pain-related behavior following compression of the dorsal root ganglion in the rat. Eur Spine J,  (2011).

8.  Esposito E, Cuzzocrea S. Anti-TNF therapy in the injured spinal cord. Trends Pharmacol Sci, 32(2), 107-115 (2011).

9. Geis C, Graulich M, Wissmann A et al. Evoked pain behavior and spinal glia activation is dependent on tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 and 2 in a mouse model of bone cancer pain. Neuroscience, 169(1), 463-474 (2010).

10. Shi JQ, Shen W, Chen J et al. Anti-TNF-alpha reduces amyloid plaques and tau phosphorylation and induces CD11c-positive dendritic-like cell in the APP/PS1 transgenic mouse brains. Brain Res, 1368, 239-247 (2011).

Numbered References

1. Edward Tobinick MD. Perispinal etanercept: a new therapeutic paradigm in neurology. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 10(6), 985-1002 (2010).

2. Edward Tobinick MD. Rapid improvement of chronic stroke deficits after perispinal etanercept: three consecutive cases. CNS Drugs. 2011 Feb;25(2):145-155.

3. Tobinick E. TNF-alpha inhibition for potential therapeutic modulation of SARS coronavirus infection. Curr Med Res Opin, 20(1), 39-40 (2004).

4. Tobinick EL. Targeted etanercept for treatment-refractory pain due to bone metastasis: two case reports. Clin Ther, 25(8), 2279-2288 (2003).

5. Tobinick EL, Britschgi-Davoodifar S. Perispinal TNF-alpha inhibition for discogenic pain. Swiss Med Wkly, 133(11-12), 170-177 (2003).

6. Tobinick E, Davoodifar S. Efficacy of etanercept delivered by perispinal administration for chronic back and/or neck disc-related pain: a study of clinical observations in 143 patients. Curr Med Res Opin, 20(7), 1075-1085 (2004).

7. Tobinick E, Gross H, Weinberger A, Cohen H. TNF-alpha modulation for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: a 6-month pilot study. MedGenMed, 8(2), 25 (2006).

8. Tobinick E. The cerebrospinal venous system: anatomy, physiology, and clinical implications. MedGenMed, 8(1), 53 (2006).

9. Tobinick E. Perispinal etanercept for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Curr Alzheimer Res, 4(5), 550-552 (2007).

10. Tobinick E. Perispinal etanercept produces rapid improvement in primary progressive aphasia: identification of a novel, rapidly reversible TNF-mediated pathophysiologic mechanism. Medscape J Med, 10(6), 135 (2008).

11. Tobinick EL, Gross H. Rapid improvement in verbal fluency and aphasia following perispinal etanercept in Alzheimer’s disease.BMC Neurol, 8, 27 (2008). [click to download a full-text formatted copy of the published, peer-reviewed article].

12. Tobinick EL, Gross H. Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease following perispinal etanercept administrationJ Neuroinflammation, 5, 2 (2008). [click title to download a full-text formatted copy of the published, peer-reviewed article].

13. Tobinick E. Tumour necrosis factor modulation for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: rationale and current evidence.CNS Drugs, 23(9), 713-725 (2009).

14. Tobinick E. Perispinal etanercept for neuroinflammatory disorders. Drug Discov Today, 14(3-4), 168-177 (2009).

15. Tobinick EL, Chen K, Chen X. Rapid intracerebroventricular delivery of Cu-DOTA-etanercept after peripheral administration demonstrated by PET imagingBMC Res Notes, 2, 28 (2009). [click title to download a full-text formatted copy of the published, peer-reviewed article].

16. Abdipranoto A, Wu S, Stayte S, Vissel B. The role of neurogenesis in neurodegenerative diseases and its implications for therapeutic development. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets, 7(2), 187-210 (2008).

17. Andrade C, Radhakrishnan R. The prevention and treatment of cognitive decline and dementia: An overview of recent research on experimental treatments. Indian J Psychiatry, 51(1), 12-25 (2009).

18. Antoniu SA, Mihaltan F, Ulmeanu R. Anti-TNF-alpha therapies in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Expert Opin Investig Drugs, 17(8), 1203-1211 (2008).

19. Balistreri CR, Grimaldi MP, Chiappelli M et al. Association between the polymorphisms of TLR4 and CD14 genes and Alzheimer’s disease. Curr Pharm Des, 14(26), 2672-2677 (2008).

20. Barchet TM, Amiji MM. Challenges and opportunities in CNS delivery of therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases.Expert Opin Drug Deliv, 6(3), 211-225 (2009).

21. Baune BT, Wiede F, Braun A, Golledge J, Arolt V, Koerner H. Cognitive dysfunction in mice deficient for TNF- and its receptors. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet, 147B(7), 1056-1064 (2008).

22. Berbaum K, Shanmugam K, Stuchbury G, Wiede F, Korner H, Munch G. Induction of novel cytokines and chemokines by advanced glycation endproducts determined with a cytometric bead array. Cytokine, 41(3), 198-203 (2008).

23. Brietzke E, Kapczinski F. TNF-alpha as a molecular target in bipolar disorder. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 32(6), 1355-1361 (2008).

24. Buchhave P, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Minthon L, Janciauskiene S, Hansson O. Soluble TNF receptors are associated with Abeta metabolism and conversion to dementia in subjects with mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiol Aging,  (2008).

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26. Clark IA. Along a TNF-paved road from dead parasites in red cells to cerebral malaria, and beyond. Parasitology, 136(12), 1457-1468 (2009).

27. Constantin CE, Mair N, Sailer CA et al. Endogenous tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) requires TNF receptor type 2 to generate heat hyperalgesia in a mouse cancer model. J Neurosci, 28(19), 5072-5081 (2008).

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29. Etz CD, Luehr M, Kari FA et al. Paraplegia after extensive thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair: does critical spinal cord ischemia occur postoperatively? J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg, 135(2), 324-330 (2008).

30. Ferguson AR, Christensen RN, Gensel JC et al. Cell death after spinal cord injury is exacerbated by rapid TNF alpha-induced trafficking of GluR2-lacking AMPARs to the plasma membrane. J Neurosci, 28(44), 11391-11400 (2008).

31. Fietta P. The immunosenescence. Riv Biol, 101(2), 247-263 (2008).

32. Furst DE, Keystone EC, Kirkham B et al. Updated consensus statement on biological agents for the treatment of rheumatic diseases, 2008. Ann Rheum Dis, 67 Suppl 3, iii2-25 (2008).

33. Giuliani F, Vernay A, Leuba G, Schenk F. Decreased behavioral impairments in an Alzheimer mice model by interfering with TNF-alpha metabolism. Brain Res Bull,  (2009).

34. Goldberg RJ. Case reports show etanercept improves AD symptoms – larger trials needed. Brown University Geriatric Psychopharmacology Update, 12(3), 1-8 (2008).

35. Goldberg RJ. International conference on Alzheimer’s disease 2008: Summary of new research: perispinal etanerceptimproves primary progressive aphasia. Brown University Geriatric Psychopharmacology Update, 12(10), 4 (2008).

36. Griffin WS. Perispinal etanercept: potential as an Alzheimer therapeutic. J Neuroinflammation, 5, 3 (2008).

37. Hayashi S, Taira A, Inoue G et al. TNF-alpha in nucleus pulposus induces sensory nerve growth: a study of the mechanism of discogenic low back pain using TNF-alpha-deficient mice. Spine, 33(14), 1542-1546 (2008).

38. Husain MM, Trevino K, Siddique H, McClintock SM. Present and prospective clinical therapeutic regimens for Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat, 4(4), 765-777 (2008).

39. Janelsins MC, Mastrangelo MA, Park KM et al. Chronic neuron-specific tumor necrosis factor-alpha expression enhances the local inflammatory environment ultimately leading to neuronal death in 3xTg-AD mice. Am J Pathol, 173(6), 1768-1782 (2008).

40. Jirillo E, Candore G, Magrone T, Caruso C. A scientific approach to anti-ageing therapies: state of the art. Curr Pharm Des, 14(26), 2637-2642 (2008).

41. Kato K, Kikuchi S, Shubayev VI, Myers RR. Distribution and tumor necrosis factor-alpha isoform binding specificity of locally administered etanercept into injured and uninjured rat sciatic nerve. Neuroscience, 160(2), 492-500 (2009).

42. Kato K, Liu H, Kikuchi SI, Myers RR, Shubayev VI. Immediate anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (etanercept) therapy enhances axonal regeneration after sciatic nerve crush. J Neurosci Res,  (2009).

43. Kauer-Sant’anna M, Kapczinski F, Andreazza AC et al. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and inflammatory markers in patients with early- vs. late-stage bipolar disorder. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol, 1-12 (2008).

44. Kenna HA, Reynolds MF, Jiang B, Rasgon N. Insulin resistance link between depressive disorders and Alzheimer’s diseaseChapter 4 in Insulin Resistance Syndrome and Neuropsychiatric Disease (Informa Health Care, 2008).

45. Maczurek A, Shanmugam K, Munch G. Inflammation and the redox-sensitive AGE-RAGE pathway as a therapeutic target in Alzheimer’s disease. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1126, 147-151 (2008).

46. Marchalant Y, Brothers HM, Wenk GL. Inflammation and aging: can endocannabinoids help? Biomed Pharmacother, 62(4), 212-217 (2008).

47. Marousi S, Ellul J, Karakantza M. Genetic polymorphisms of type-1 and type-2 inflammatory cytokines in ischaemic stroke. Vascular Disease Prevention, 5(2), 89-103 (2008).

48. McAfoose J, Baune BT. Evidence for a cytokine model of cognitive function. Neurosci Biobehav Rev,  (2008).

49. McAlpine FE, Lee JK, Harms AS et al. Inhibition of soluble TNF signaling in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease prevents pre-plaque amyloid-associated neuropathology. Neurobiol Dis, 34(1), 163-177 (2009).

50. McAlpine FE, Tansey MG. Neuroinflammation and tumor necrosis factor signaling in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s. J Inflammation Research, 1, 29-39 (2008).

51. McCoy MK, Tansey MG. TNF signaling inhibition in the CNS: implications for normal brain function and neurodegenerative disease. J Neuroinflammation, 5, 45 (2008).

52. Patel JR, Brewer GJ. Age-related changes to tumor necrosis factor receptors affect neuron survival in the presence of beta-amyloid. J Neurosci Res, 86(10), 2303-2313 (2008).

53. Racchi M, Uberti D, Govoni S et al. Alzheimer’s disease: new diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Immun Ageing, 5, 7 (2008).

54. Ramanan S, Kooshki M, Zhao W, Hsu FC, Robbins ME. PPARalpha ligands inhibit radiation-induced microglial inflammatory responses by negatively regulating NF-kappaB and AP-1 pathways. Free Radic Biol Med,  (2008).

55. Rao AA, Reddi KK, Thota H. Bioinformatic analysis of Alzheimer’s disease using functional protein sequences. J Proteomics Bioinformatics, 1(1), 47-56 (2008).

56. Rogers J. The inflammatory response in Alzheimer’s disease. J Periodontol, 79(8 Suppl), 1535-1543 (2008).

57. Schwab C, McGeer PL. Inflammatory aspects of Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. J Alzheimers Dis, 13(4), 359-369 (2008).

58. Shamji MF, Whitlatch L, Friedman AH, Richardson WJ, Chilkoti A, Setton LA. An injectable and in situ-gelling biopolymer for sustained drug release following perineural administration. Spine, 33(7), 748-754 (2008).

59. Shin HS, Kim TH, Lee SJ. The effective steroid dose of caudal epidural injection with unilateral epidural catheter position in patients with symptomatic herniated nucleus pulposus. Korean J Anesthesiol, 54(4), 427-430 (2008).

60. Steinman L. Nuanced roles of cytokines in three major human brain disorders. J Clin Invest, 118(11), 3557-3563 (2008).

61. Stephan DA. Positive effect of etanercept on Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 8(2), 177-179 (2008).

62. Case study of new drug suggests a novel method of targeting Alzheimers symptoms. Aging Health, 4(1), 5-9 (2008).

63. Positive effects of etanercept on Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 8(2), 179 (2008).

64. Perispinal administration of anti-TNF agent results in rapid cognitive improvement in AD. Nature Clinical Practice Neurology, 4(4), 181 (2008).

65. Tansey MG, Wyss-Coray T. Cytokines in CNS Inflammation and Disease, in Central Nervous System Diseases and Inflammation(Springer, 2008).

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67. Teeling JL, Perry VH. Systemic infection and inflammation in acute CNS injury and chronic neurodegeneration: underlying mechanisms. Neuroscience, 158(3), 1062-1073 (2009).

68. Theoharides TC, Doyle R. Autism, gut-blood-brain barrier, and mast cells. J Clin Psychopharmacol, 28(5), 479-483 (2008).

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77. Yamasaki S, Takase I, Takada N, Nishi K. Measurement of force to obstruct the cervical arteries and distribution of tension exerted on a ligature in hanging. Leg Med (Tokyo), 11(4), 175-180 (2009).

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79. Buchhave P, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Minthon L, Janciauskiene S, Hansson O. Soluble TNF receptors are associated with Abeta metabolism and conversion to dementia in subjects with mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiol Aging, 31(11), 1877-1884 (2010).

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82. Kato K, Liu H, Kikuchi S, Myers RR, Shubayev VI. Immediate anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (etanercept) therapy enhances axonal regeneration after sciatic nerve crush. J Neurosci Res, 88(2), 360-368 (2010).

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85. Munoz L, Ammit AJ. Targeting p38 MAPK pathway for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropharmacology, 58(3), 561-568 (2010).

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