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Works in mice (a common human analog). Monkeys are next. If it works in them human trials could start in ~3 years. Yes, it appears to be a therapeutic vaccine.
Keep your fingers crossed....
Dr. Mordrid
A DNA vaccine has successfully reduced the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mice. The result could signal the first preventative and restorative treatment vaccine for Alzheimer’s without serious side effects.
Alzheimer’s disease progresses as small proteins called amyloid beta (Ab) peptides are overproduced, forming plaques in the brain that interfere with its function. Memory loss and mental deterioration follow.
A vaccination approach – getting the immune system to clean up the plaques – has been considered the most promising way to tackle the disease, but its success has been limited, until now. In 2002, for example, the US pharmaceutical company Elan halted trials of a vaccine that raised antibodies against Ab peptides, after some patients suffered brain inflammation (see Key Alzheimer's vaccine trial abandoned).
The new vaccine is different because instead of using the Ab peptide itself to stimulate antibody production, it uses a stretch of DNA that codes for the Ab peptide, says Yoh Matsumoto, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Japan, who led the research.
Alzheimer’s disease progresses as small proteins called amyloid beta (Ab) peptides are overproduced, forming plaques in the brain that interfere with its function. Memory loss and mental deterioration follow.
A vaccination approach – getting the immune system to clean up the plaques – has been considered the most promising way to tackle the disease, but its success has been limited, until now. In 2002, for example, the US pharmaceutical company Elan halted trials of a vaccine that raised antibodies against Ab peptides, after some patients suffered brain inflammation (see Key Alzheimer's vaccine trial abandoned).
The new vaccine is different because instead of using the Ab peptide itself to stimulate antibody production, it uses a stretch of DNA that codes for the Ab peptide, says Yoh Matsumoto, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Japan, who led the research.
Dr. Mordrid
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