Hope of a breakthrough on vaccine for Alzheimer's

Published on 13/06/2006 00:06

EXPERTS have taken a step forward in developing a vaccine to protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to the latest research.

By injecting mice with a vaccine, they found they were able to prevent the build up of small proteins (called Ab) in the brain, which are a sign of the disease.

The study, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, found that a vaccine reduced the deposition of Ab to 15.5 per cent and 38.5 per cent of that found in untreated mice at age seven and 18 months old respectively. The research was carried out by Yoshio Okura and colleagues at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience.

Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Dr Okura and colleagues' results offer a promising step forward in the search for a workable vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.

"These results mean that this vaccine may be able to be tested on humans in the future."

The vaccine also did not trigger side effects such as brain inflammation which was seen in previous studies, the experts said.