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INR 100 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suites 205-210 Los Angeles, California 90095 (310) 824-6199 Edward Tobinick MD, Medical Director

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INR News 2008

1. From the Center for Neural Development and Disease, University of Rochester Medical Center:

Janelsins MC, Mastrangelo MA, Park KM, Sudol KL, Narrow WC, Oddo S, Laferla FM, Callahan LM, Federoff HJ, Bowers WJ.
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. 2008 Oct 30. 

"Data from our model suggest that a chronic inflammatory event mediated by TNF-alpha contributes to AD-related neuronal death and provide the rationale for developing TNF-alpha specific agents to subvert the disease process. Support for such an endeavor is preliminarily provided by a recently conducted open-label pilot study, where mild to severe AD patients were perispinally administered etanercept, a human TNFRII antagonist. After 6 months of treatment, a subset of patients exhibited cognitive improvement, suggesting that interfering with TNF-alpha mediated signaling can improve disease symptomatology."

The link to the full paper is here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18974297.

2. From the Brain and Spinal Injury Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco Medical Center:

Ferguson AR, Christensen RN, Gensel JC, Miller BA, Sun F, Beattie EC, Bresnahan JC, Beattie MS. Cell death after spinal cord injury is exacerbated by rapid TNFalpha-induced trafficking of GluR2-lacking AMPARs to the plasma membrane. J Neurosci. 2008 Oct 29;28(44):11391-400.

This paper concludes with: 

"Thus, the implications of the present work extend beyond spinal cord pathology. Excitotoxicity through GluR2-lacking AMPARs may be a common mechanism of cell loss in a variety of neurodegenerative conditions including not only spinal cord injury but amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, ischemic injury, and Alzheimer's disease (Agrawal and Fehlings, 1997; Pitt et al., 2000; Blanchard et al., 2004; Leonoudakis et al., 2004; Lai et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2006; Tobinick and Gross, 2008), disease states that also have an inflammatory component. By providing the first in vivo demonstration that TNF-alpha regulates trafficking of GluR2-lacking AMPARs, the present findings suggest novel therapeutic targets for treating excitotoxicity in CNS injury and disease."

The link to the full paper is here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18971481.

3. The Brown University Geriatric Psychopharmacology Update, October 2008, Volume 12, Number 10 issue Special Report on the ICAD 2008 conference, summary of new research includes a discussion of Dr. Tobinick's ICAD 2008 presentation, "Perispinal etanercept improves primary progressive aphasia". ICAD 2008 is described by the conference organizers as the "world's leading forum on dementia research".

The link to the full issue is here: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121410033/issue.

NB: This Keynote Presentation was well received at the conference in Boston. Those wishing further information may email the INR at nrimed@gmail.com.

August 9, 2008: New Scientist magazine publishes a feature article about the INR and Dr. Tobinick's pioneering work using perispinal etanercept as a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The article, entitled Awakenings, by Daniel Elkan, published in the August 9 edition of New Scientist, and included a detailed discussion with both Dr. Tobinick and scientific experts from around the world who discussed Dr. Tobinick's discoveries in Alzheimer's disease. The article is available online at this link .

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Terry Pratchett and Dr. Tobinick at the INR Los Angeles, August 8, 2008.

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August 8, 2008: Terry Pratchett flys from England and visits the INR to learn more about the INR's pioneering approach to Alzheimer's disease treatment, as part of a documentary being made. Mr. Pratchett, the world-famous author of the DiscWorld series of books, has publicly revealed that he has been diagnosed with a rare early onset form of Alzheimer's disease called PCA (Posterior Cortical Atrophy).

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July 30, 2008: Dr. Tobinick gives an invited presentation of the abstract of his article documenting rapid improvement in speech in primary progressive aphasia following perispinal etanercept administration at ICAD 2008 in Chicago, the world's leading forum on dementia research.

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July 21, 2008: The INR scientific article documenting improvement in speech and verbal function in Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept, in a 6 month, prospective pilot study involving 12 patients publishes in the journal BMC Neurology. The article was entitled Rapid improvement in verbal fluency and aphasia following perispinal etanercept in Alzheimer's disease BMC Neurology 2008, 8:27

Perispinal etanercept for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia (the Tobinick Method™) is a patented, off-label treatment method developed at the INR.