[Alpha interferon and Alzheimer's disease]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the commonest cause of dementia; its aetiology is unknown and there is non-specific treatment to detain the course of the disease. The interferons (IFN) are proteins which have antiviral, antiproliferative and immuno-modulating effects, and in the central nervous system these effects are mediated through the opiate receptors and the dopaminergic system. There is evidence that AD may be related to certain prion diseases and certain viruses, and that the IFN system has become deteriorated in this condition.

We present a review of patients with AD treated with alpha interferon.

The first known case in the literature was that of a 69 year old man with definite AD (NINCDS-ADRDA) who was given alpha leucocytic IFN intrathecally and who initially was suspected of having Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; after his treatment with IFN-alpha, his neurological signs were observed to have stabilized. Subsequently, the results of a controlled, randomized, clinical trial were analyzed for 16 patients with probable EA (NINCDS-ADRDA) treated with recombinant IFN-alpha 2b intramuscularly, in whom no changes in clinical and neurophysiological assessment were observed after a year of treatment. However, there was a significant improvement in one of the variables used to measure quality of life, together with a certain reduction in mortality in the patients treated with IFN-alpha.

These results should be investigated in future studies in the light of current findings concerning the fact that, in the neurophysiological changes in AD, the pro-inflammatory cytokines, of which some of their numerous actions are blocked by IFN-alpha, may produce a deleterious effect on the course of AD.