Plasma Exchange in Alzheimer?s Disease

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) has traditionally been used to selectively remove pathologic contents including autoantibodies, abnormal proteins, immune complexes, or toxins from a patient's plasma. In addition to the removal of molecular contributors to disease, fluid replacement and infusion of beneficial plasma constituents including albumin can be tapered based on the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the offending disease. This treatment modality has shown efficacy in symptomatic relief and slowing of dis-ease progression for various neurologic, immunologic, and hematologic diseases. This review outlines the rationale for TPE in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) through a potential mechanism leveraging the concentration gradient of amyloid beta peptides and the infusion of albumin, and critically reviews the clinical evidence for treatment of AD using TPE and albumin replacement. This review also highlights potential sources of bias that must be considered in conjunction with the evidence of efficacy for the use of TPE in AD.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Automated summary

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is commonly used to selectively remove pathologic contents from a patient's plasma and has shown efficacy in various diseases. This review focuses on the potential mechanism of TPE in treating Alzheimer's Disease (AD) by leveraging the concentration gradient of amyloid beta peptides and the infusion of albumin, and critically evaluates the clinical evidence for TPE and albumin replacement in AD.