A new vaccine that targets inflamed brain cells associated with Alzheimer's disease may hold the key to potentially preventing or modifying the course of the disease, according to preliminary research presented at the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences conference of the American Heart Association, hosted in Boston.
Researchers at Juntendo University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan developed a vaccine that improved several age-related diseases in mice, including atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes. Based on the findings of their studies, the researchers tested this vaccine in mice to treat Alzheimer's disease.
The vaccine significantly reduced amyloid deposits in brain tissue located in the area of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for language processing, attention and problem solving. Also, several inflammatory biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease were reduced after the vaccine, meaning that inflammation in the brain was improved. A behavioral test on the mice further revealed that those that received the vaccine responded significantly better to their environment and tended to behave like normal healthy mice than those that received a placebo vaccine.
"Alzheimer's disease now accounts for 50-70% of dementia patients worldwide. Testing our study's new vaccine in mice points to a possible way to prevent or modify the disease. The future challenge will be to achieve similar results in humans," says lead study author and postdoctoral fellow in Juntendo University's Department of Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine, Chien-Lun Hsiao.
He adds that "if the vaccine proves successful in humans it will be a big step forward in delaying the progression of the disease or even preventing this disease."
According to data from the American Heart Association, about 3,7 million Americans age 30 and older had Alzheimer's disease in 2017, and that number is projected to increase to 9,3 million by 2060.
Source: RES-EAP