A research team at Yonsei University College of Medicine published a study, saying the delivery of antibody treatments like aducanumab can be improved 8.1 times with focused ultrasound (FUS)  targetted to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of mice.

A research team at Yonsei University College of Medicine published a study, saying the delivery of antibody treatments like aducanumab can be improved 8.1 times with focused ultrasound (FUS)  targetted to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of mice. (Credit: Translational Neurodegeneration, BMC journal)
A research team at Yonsei University College of Medicine published a study, saying the delivery of antibody treatments like aducanumab can be improved 8.1 times with focused ultrasound (FUS)  targetted to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of mice. (Credit: Translational Neurodegeneration, BMC journal)

Alzheimer's is known to be associated with the accumulation of toxic protein amyloid beta in the brain leading to the subsequent destruction of brain cells.

Aducanumab is the only antibody treatment for Alzheimer's that removes amyloid beta and is currently the only drug approved by the U.S. FDA but there are some side effects when taking high doses.

However, high doses of antibody treatments are required to overcome the selectively permeable BBB that usually functions to protect the brain from harmful substances but can sometimes hinder drug delivery.

In 2021, Yonsei University Professor Jang Jin-woo's team reported the world's first surgical method in the Translational Neurodegeneration journal to safely open the BBB of the frontal lobe with ultrasound surgery in 2021, and at the same time confirmed a temporary improvement in symptoms of dementia patients, as well as a decrease in amyloid beta.

In a subsequent follow-up study on dementia-modeled mice, the team investigated ways to increase the safety and effectiveness of antibody treatments currently used in clinical trials by using FUS open surgery on the BBB.

The mice were split into three groups where group one received the FUS open surgery on the BBB. Group two only received aducanumab and group three, both the FUS surgery and aducanumab, to verify the treatment and safety of actual dementia.

As a result of examining the amount of aducanumab delivered to the hippocampus, the delivery dose was 8.1 times higher in group three, compared to group two. Additionally, the amount of amyloid beta removed by aducanumab was also twice as high. In particular, even without the medication, the FUS open surgery method showed a decrease in amyloid beta.

Furthermore, the Y-maze test showed an improvement in cognitive function by approximately 40 percent in the mice that took the drug with the open surgery on the BBB compared to before.

"While there is no complete cure for dementia, we hope that open BBB surgery using FUS surgery can help give hope to dementia patients," Professor Jang said.

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