Weiner Howard L, Frenkel Dan
Center for Neurologic Diseases, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Nat Rev Immunol. 2006 May;6(5):404-16. doi: 10.1038/nri1843.
Although Alzheimer's disease is considered to be a degenerative brain disease, it is clear that the immune system has an important role in the disease process. As discussed in this Review, immune-based therapies that are designed to remove amyloid-beta peptide from the brain have produced positive results in animal models of the disease and are being tested in humans with Alzheimer's disease. Although immunotherapy holds great promise for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, clinical trials of active amyloid-beta vaccination of patients with Alzheimer's disease were discontinued after some patients developed meningoencephalitis. New immunotherapies using humoral and cell-based approaches are currently being investigated for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
尽管阿尔茨海默病被认为是一种退行性脑疾病，但免疫系统在该疾病进程中显然发挥着重要作用。如本综述中所讨论的，旨在从大脑中清除β-淀粉样肽的免疫疗法在该疾病的动物模型中已产生积极结果，并且正在阿尔茨海默病患者中进行测试。尽管免疫疗法对阿尔茨海默病的治疗具有巨大潜力，但在一些患者发生脑膜脑炎后，阿尔茨海默病患者的活性β-淀粉样蛋白疫苗接种的临床试验已停止。目前正在研究使用体液和基于细胞的方法的新型免疫疗法用于阿尔茨海默病的治疗和预防。
