Researchers find evidence for immune suppressive therapy as treatment for dementia caused by body’s immune system

Monday 25 June 2012

Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Charité found evidence that some forms of dementia can be caused by the body’s own immune system and that appropriate immune suppressive therapy can be an effective treatment under those circumstances.

The study published in the journal Neurology led the scientists to recommend a new type of therapeutic approach to dementia, as they were able to show that hemodialysis to eliminate antibodies resulted in an improvement of cerebral metabolism in the hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for memory .

“A completely new approach to diagnosing dementia can possibly result. At the moment we are working on a follow-up study with larger test groups in order to verify our approach even further," explains Harald Prüß, physician at the Klinik für Neurologie of the Charité.