Alzheimer’s vaccine a step closer

A vaccine against Alzheimer’s has come a step closer after scientists succeeded in preventing the build-up of toxic brain proteins. Experiments on mice showed the DNA vaccine, injected into skin, could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s with no serious side-effects. The findings, in the journal Alzhe- imer’s Research And Therapy, could lead to clinical trials with human patients, said the scientists. Two kinds of toxic protein or protein building blocks are thought to play a key role in Alzheimer’s - betaamyloid and tau. Beta-amyloid accumulates in sticky clumps in the brain and is a characteristic of the disease seen in post-mortem examinations. Tau is a protein which produces destructive “tangles” within nerve cells. Research suggests the two are linked, with betaamyloid promoting the formation of tau tangles. The new vaccine contains DNA coding for a segment of the beta-amyloid protein building block, or peptide.

In the study the vaccine triggered an immune response that not only led to a 40 per cent reduction in beta-amyloid build-up, but also reduced tau formation by 50 per cent.