BOSTON -- Local researchers are involved in the final phase of testing of an antibody that could slow the progression of Alzheimer's Disease.

New Treatment For Alzheimer's Disease?

NewsCenter 5's Heather Unruh reported Wednesday that doctors and patients' families are hopeful that within two years this may be a breakthrough in treatment of a disease that impacts an estimated one in three American families.

"It was music that brought us together," said Karyn Barry, as she watched her husband Walter play the piano. "It's amazing to me that he can still sit down and play."

Hartel and his wife have been forced to face Alzheimer's together since he was diagnosed three years ago. His illness restricts their life.

"The joie de vivre is not there that once was who he was," she said.

The Hartels are hoping a new experimental drug will help them, and the 5 million Americans struggling with Alzheimer's Disease.

"The initial results look quite promising," said Dr. Michael Biber of the Neurocare Center for Research in Newton, Mass.

Biber and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital are in phase three trials for an experimenting drug that may combat a buildup of amyloid in the brain. Amyloid is a protein that many researchers believe either causes or contributes to Alzheimer's Disease.

"Amyloid is toxic to brain cells," said Biber.

There is "at least some evidence that giving this antibody that removes the amyloid out of the brain," said Biber's colleague and co-researcher, Dr. Reisa Sperling, who works at both MGH and Brigham & Women's Hospitals in Boston. Removing amyloid, they have shown in testing so far, seems to slow the progression of the disease.

"Everybody in the field is waiting for the day when we can give these drugs to people 5 or 10 years before they get dementia," said Sperling.

Sperling uses PET scans to measure the amyloid in patient's brains, something that has never been done before and was, in fact, impossible until recently.

"The areas that are bright red and pink here are what we call the cortex and these are areas of the brain where amyloid accumulates," Sperling said. It's these areas of the brain that allow us to function and live independently.

It's research Hartel and his wife are hoping can help them and millions of others.

"I'm hoping the doctor could get me riding my bicycle again," said Walter Hartel. "There are places I'd like to go."

"I want my husband back," said Karyn Barry.

There are a handful of clinical trial sites in New England, and researchers are eager to enroll just over 2,000 patients.