« Medical Research On The Campaign Trail | Main | HDSA Holiday Cards »
October 16, 2004
Minocyline Study - Neuroprotective
There are a whole host of things that can cause a 14-person study to give bad results. As a result, such a small study can never be considered to offer conclusive evidence. Having said that...
This two year study followed 14 HD patients as they took Minocycline. The purpose of the study was to determine if the drug protected the brain cells from the effects of Huntington's Disease. The answer appears to be 'yes'. Testing showed that the patients stabilized and even showed improvement in psychiatric symptoms.
Here's the study abstract:
Neuroprotection in Huntington's disease: a 2-year study on minocycline.
Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2004 Nov;19(6):337-42.
PMID: 15486519 [PubMed - in process]
Bonelli RM, Hodl AK, Hofmann P, Kapfhammer HP.
Department of Psychiatry, Graz Medical University, Graz, Austria.
Huntington's disease (HD), a relentlessly progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is characterized by a clinical triad of psychiatric, cognitive and motor disturbances. The antibiotic minocycline, a caspase inhibitor exhibiting antiapoptotic properties, has been shown to prolong survival in the transgenic mouse model of HD.
We administrated minocycline to 14 patients with genetically confirmed HD. The patients were psychiatrically, neurologically and neuropsychologically evaluated at baseline, and after 6 and 24 months of treatment, using the Unified HD Rating Scale and a neuropsychological test battery. After 12 months, three patients were lost to follow-up so that 11 patients were analysed at the endpoint.
Minocycline was well tolerated. Unlike the expected natural course of HD, patients exhibited stabilization in general motor and neuropsychological function at endpoint, after improving in the first 6 months. Moreover, we found a significant amelioration of psychiatric symptoms that was not apparent after the first 6 months.
In detail, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Total Motor Score, the Total Functional Capacity Scale and the Independence Scale, as the most prominent scales in HD, were stabilized after 3 years of treatment. Our results confirm previous animal studies and indicate a neuroprotective effect of this agent in HD. A long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial appears highly warranted for definitively establishing the value of minocycline in HD.
Posted by Dave at October 16, 2004 11:39 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.huntingtons.info/MT/mt-tb.cgi/616
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)