monoclonal antibody bapineuzumab

Alzheimer's mAb May Diminish Tau Tangles

By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: April 02, 2012

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.

Treatment with the monoclonal antibody bapineuzumab significantly lowered levels of phosphorylated tau (P-tau) in the cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer's patients, researchers found.

In a pooled analysis from two earlier phase II studies, P-tau levels fell significantly for those on bapineuzumab compared with controls (P=0.03), and there was also a trend toward diminished total-tau levels in these patients, Kaj Blennow, MD, PhD, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and colleagues reported online in the Archives of Neurology.

Primary source: Archives of Neurology
Source reference:
Blennow K, et al "Effect of immunotherapy with bapineuzumab on cerebrospinal fluid biomarker levels in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease" Arch Neurol 2012; DOI: 10.1001/archneurol.2012.90.