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A Vaccine Against Alzheimer’s Disease

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Abstract

There are no significantly effective therapeutic or prophylactic agents for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of age-related dementia. AD is characterised pathologically by plaque-like deposits of β-amyloid in the brain as well as cytoskeletal (‘neurofibrillary’) alterations within nerve cells. A novel immunisation strategy directed at the β-amyloid abnormalities underlying plaque pathology has recently been proposed for AD. This approach is supported by experimental studies utilising β-amyloid as an immunogen, or antibodies to β-amyloid, in transgenic experimental models that develop plaque pathology but not neurofibrillary alterations or severe neurodegeneration. Behavioural abnormalities in these mice related to deficits in spatial working memory were also ameliorated by immunisation with β-amyloid. The promise of this novel approach to AD treatment and/or prevention has led to initial human trials utilising β-amyloid as an immunogen.

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Acknowledgements

James Vickers is a Senior Research Fellow of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. Studies on Alzheimer’s disease are also supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Tasmanian Masonic Centenary Medical Research Foundation. The author has no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this manuscript.

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  1. Discipline of Pathology, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-29, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    James C. Vickers

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Correspondence to James C. Vickers.

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Vickers, J.C. A Vaccine Against Alzheimer’s Disease. Drugs Aging 19, 487–494 (2002). https://doi.org/10.2165/00002512-200219070-00002

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