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New progress in active immunotherapy targeting to amyloid beta

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common types of dementia whose hallmarks include neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. The latter are mainly composed of amyloid-β proteins (Aβ), and it’s suggested that Aβ may be the causative factor in AD pathogenesis. Immunotherapy targeting Aβ for preventing aggregation of Aβ and mildly clearing amyloid plaques has been a hot topic since 1999. Although the first clinical trial of Aβ vaccine, AN-1792, failed in phase II, its results suggested some key points in the design of Aβ vaccines. Avoiding the possible toxic Aβ specific T cell response and inducing a Th2 type cellular immune response may be beneficial for Aβ immunotherapy. Many associations and research groups are working on Aβ vaccine and some progress has been made in recent years. In this review, we have provided a detailed summary of past Aβ vaccines, which have been sorted by the immunogen, and we also discuss some recent progress and future perspectives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education; Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Gao Li, Yong-Xiang Chen & Yan-Mei Li

  2. Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, 100069, China

    Yan-Mei Li

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Li, G., Chen, YX. & Li, YM. New progress in active immunotherapy targeting to amyloid beta. Sci. China Chem. 58, 383–389 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-014-5310-9

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