PLT Test Blog

  “three cytokine levels, namely the IFN- γ , MIG and IFN- α 2   … These cytokine levels at the baseline could improve the prediction of the bumetanide responders” “… cytokines had a potential to construct a blood signature for predicting and monitoring the bumetanide treatment in young children with ASD.” “a significant part of the clinical heterogeneity in the treatment effect of bumetanide for ASD is associated with the differences in the immune system of patients”   Autism is a very heterogeneous family of conditions and this is a big part of the reason why all clinical trials to date have failed.   Ideally, there would be a diagnostic test to identify which person will respond to which therapy.   Then you can have a successful clinical trial, because you are only including people likely to respond. Researchers from China have just published their results that suggest that a blood test measuring three inflammatory markers can predict who will respond ...

The Gladstone Center for Translational Advancement was formed in 2017, and focuses on  drug repositioning ; repurposing already-approved drugs for new uses and clinical trials, to speed up (and lower the cost of) drug development.   Our neurologist reader Eszter commented recently on the overlap between experimental therapies for Alzheimer’s and those for autism. She was mentioning GHK-Cu, which is a naturally occurring peptide in our bodies that looks interesting in the research on both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.   There will be post on GHK-Cu, but this is a potential therapy that would require injections, so it has a big drawback In the early days of this blog we looked at the repurposing of Alzheimer’s drugs like Memantine, Donepezil and Galantamine for some autism. Roll forward a few years and we now have quite a handful of autism drugs in the portfolio. Today we look again at how some of these autism drugs can be repurposed for Alzheimer’s. We have come full c...