University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California researchers have found a “dramatic and unprecedented” therapeutic effect in an Alzheimer’s patient: improvement within minutes, following delivery of perispinal etanercept to reduce elevanted tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a component of the brain’s immune system.

Scientists urge caution in responding to the news that a drug commonly used to treat arthritis caused a dramatic and rapid improvement in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

UPDATE from Technology Review: “Scientists and others not involved in the work worry that the report, which was based on trials in a few patients and hasn’t been independently confirmed, may offer little more than false hope for Alzheimer’s sufferers and their families.”