A promising approach to treating Alzheimer’s patients is making its first tentative steps from mice to human beings.
Although the exact cause of Alzheimer’s is still poorly understood, the current prevailing theory is that a protein called amyloid accumulates into deposits known as plaques which disrupt the brain’s functioning. In 1999 Dale Schenk of Elan Pharmaceuticals announced that in animal experiments he injected mice with a protein fragment called beta-amyloid which prevented amyloid from accumulating in the brains of the mice.
Subsequent research with mice has demonstrated that mice genetically altered to develop amyloid plaques which result in Alzheimer’s like condition in the animals have maintained their memory and learning skills when injected with a vaccine that promotes the production of beta-amyloid.
The main concern over the vaccine for humans revolved around safety issues. Some researchers suspected that encouraging beta-amyloid production might itself cause brain damage. But at the Alzheimer’s 2000 conference held in Washington, DC, in July, researchers reported that recently finished clinical trials on 24 Alzheimer’s patients in the United States found no evidence of side effects. “There’s no question the vaccine was well tolerated,” Schenk told Science News.
A larger, 80-patient clinical trial testing safety and dose response is underway now and if that study confirms that the vaccine is safe, trials to determine whether the vaccine is an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s in human beings will commence in 2001.
Source:
Possible Alzheimer’s vaccine seems safe. J. Travis, Science News, July 15, 2000.