Role of inflammation in Alzheimer’s questioned
Doubts have been cast over the role of inflammation
in Alzheimer’s disease as a result of a study conducted in the Netherlands.
Professor Willem Van Gool from the department of
neurology at the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, and colleagues randomised
168 patients with early Alzheimer’s disease to receive either hydroxychloroquine
(200 or 400mg) or placebo for 18 months. They tested hydroxychloroquine
because of its use in inflammatory diseases and, they say, the inflammatory
process in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s disease is a “compelling
target” for therapeutic intervention.
They found no difference in the progression of dementia
between the two groups at any time during the study. “Our results cast
doubt on straightforward therapeutic implications of the inflammatory
hypothesis,” they say (Lancet 2001;358:455).
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