UH News

CLEVELAND – Researchers from the Memory and Cognition Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center will begin testing an intriguing new approach to slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) using Intravenous Immune Globulin (IGIV), also known as gammaglobulin. IGIV is traditionally used to treat primary immunodeficiency disorders, but is not currently approved for treating AD, which is one of the leading causes of dementia in the elderly. 

Initial research in experimental models and patients suggests that immunotherapy targeting beta amyloid (the protein that forms the core of plaques in the brain) may provide a more effective way to treat AD. Antibodies that bind to beta amyloid are present in IGIV, which is made from the blood of several thousand healthy adults. 

One of the hallmarks of AD pathology is an abundance of beta-amyloid deposits in the brain. While it is not yet known if beta amyloid plaques cause AD or are a byproduct of the disease, scientists are interested in finding ways to reduce the toxic effects of beta amyloid on the brain. Antibodies against beta amyloid may do so by binding to toxic forms of beta amyloid, thereby neutralizing them and/or promoting their elimination.

CLEVELAND – University Hospitals (UH) has announced the appointment of Jeffrey L. Sunshine, M.D., Ph.D., as Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer.  He has been serving in those capacities on an interim basis since November 2008.

In these roles, Dr. Sunshine will be an integral member of the leadership team for the strategic planning, operations, integration and implementation of information systems and services throughout the health system, particularly in the development of UH’s $100 million Electronic Medical Record (EMR) project. While interim, he led EMR implementation across eight UH hospitals serving thousands of physicians.