Radiation therapy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease which is the most common form of dementia among the elderly affecting over 5.8 million patients in the United States (US) and 36 million worldwide. Currently there is no effective treatment. Based on the observation that radiation therapy (RT) has been used to successfully treat systemic amyloidosis for over 2 decades our group hypothesized that RT could be used to treat AD. We have published preclinical data which supports this hypothesis using a transgenic murine model of AD. The mechanisms by which RT improves cognition in this model may include a combination of amyloid and tau reduction, alteration of immune responses, reduction of maladaptive neuroplasticity and other effects. Further preclinical work is underway and an FDA approved phase 1 human trial, examining the safety of RT in AD subjects is open at our institution.