Alzheimer's cannot be cured. At least not yet. Researchers at the University of New Mexico are one step closer to finding a cure by developing a vaccine for Alzheimer's disease. The disease, a progressive memory disorder, is estimated to affect one in three seniors worldwide - a total of 43 million people. Researchers believe the disease is caused by a slow destruction of brain cells linked to a protein called tau. In particular, neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), tangles of saturated tau proteins, are a primary contributor to Alzheimer's disease. Recently, researchers reported that they developed a vaccine using virus-like particles to clear tau buildup in mice, which have symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer's patients.
After the mice were injected with the vaccine, they developed antibodies to remove the tau protein from their brains. The antibodies remained in the mice's brains for months. The tested mice orientated themselves better in mazes, pointing during aMRI scanless brain shrinkage and fewer tangles in both the cortex and hippocampus - two areas of the brain that are destroyed by this type of dementia.
“These results confirm that targeting tau tangles using a vaccine can reverse memory impairment and prevent neuronal death,” said Nicole Maphis, a doctoral student in UNM’s Biomedical Sciences graduate program.
While this has just been successfully tested in mice, researchers are trying to get funding to market the vaccine in order to further develop it and also test it on human patients.
The research report was published inNPJ Vaccines published.
