Scientists at the University of South Florida Health have created a vaccine to help people with Alzheimer's, a deadly and incurable form of dementia, fight neurodegenerative disorder. The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, is summarized in a press release on MedicalXpress.
Preclinical studies have demonstrated that a dendritic vaccine targeting the neurotoxic forms of amyloid beta peptide (oligomeric Aβ) is safe and has the potential to induce an immune response against the formation of solid deposits of amyloid plaques, which are considered a major cause of nerve cell death. The E22W42 DC vaccine is based on dendritic cells that present the Aβ antigen to the body's immune system.
So far, clinical trials of all anti-amyloid vaccines for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease have not been successful. For example, when testing one of the vaccines, several patients developed central nervous system inflammation. The new drug should not overstimulate the immune system of the elderly due to the presence of dendritic cells that regulate the body's defense response.
The vaccine slowed down memory impairment in transgenic mice suffering from an analogue of Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, no significant differences were found in the levels of inflammatory cytokines in plasma between the vaccinated and control groups of mice.
