Mice were vaccinated against Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's vaccine successfully tested on mice
Georgy Golovanov, Hi-tech+
The results of animal experiments confirmed the hypotheses. Scientists from The University of New Mexico hopes to receive the funding needed to organize large-scale clinical trials with the participation of volunteers.
How the brain is destroyed
Getting older, the brain of a healthy person does not lose so many neurons. But in Alzheimer's patients, they stop functioning, lose connections and, eventually, many neurons die. This disease becomes the main cause of dementia and manifests itself in a third of the elderly, that is, in 43 million people around the world.
The cause of the disease is considered to be the accumulation of beta-amyloids — proteins that form plaques between neurons and disrupt cell functions. Another physical characteristic of Alzheimer's is the formation of tau proteins that block the transport system inside neurons.
In the early stages, the damage is limited to the entorhinal zone of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus — areas associated with memory, spatial orientation and perception of time. The problem is that the first symptoms appear much later, when the disease has already caused serious harm to the body, says ZME Science. And there is no cure for this ailment — you can only slow down its development.
Therefore, the efforts of scientists around the world are focused on two areas: early diagnosis and the creation of a vaccine.
Vaccine
Since 2013 , scientists from The University of New Mexico is working on a vaccine that affects tau proteins. Recently, they tested another version of the vaccine on a group of mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. In order to believe the effectiveness of the drug, the researchers forced the subjects to go through a maze.
Those rodents who received an injection of the drug coped much better with the task. The antibodies successfully purified pathological tau proteins, and this effect persisted for several months of observations.
Experiments were also conducted on monkeys and rabbits. American scientists hope to move on to human trials soon, but for this they need to get solid funding.
Sometimes complex analyses and tests can be replaced by a video game. So, the application Sea Hero Quest determines the risks of Alzheimer's disease long before the first symptoms appear. And thanks to the participation of volunteers, it replaced 1,700 years of research.
The article by Maphis et al Qß Virus-like particle-based vaccine induces robust immunity and protects against tauopathy is published in the journal npj Vaccines – VM.
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