In a new study, researchers reported that preventive treatment for dementia may proceed to clinical trials after successful animal testing.
They are looking to develop effective immunotherapy via a new vaccine to remove ‘brain plaque’ and tau protein aggregates linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of California, Irvine and elsewhere.
A new paper paves the way for more work in 2020, with the team working with a successful vaccine formulated.
The latest research aims to come up with a new treatment to remove accumulated beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau, which together lead to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of age-related dementia, affecting about 5.7 million people in the US. Major challenges in AD include the lack of effective treatments, reliable biomarkers, or preventive strategies.
The team tested the universal MultiTEP platform-based vaccines in bigenic mice with mix Aβ and tau pathologies.
The findings warrant further development of this dual vaccination strategy based on the MultiTEP technology for ultimate testing in human Alzheimer’s disease.
The team says the Advax adjuvant method is a pivotal system to help take the combination MultiTEP-based Aβ/tau vaccines therapy, as well as separate vaccines targeting these pathological molecules, to clinical trials—perhaps within two years.
Several promising drug candidates have failed in clinical trials so the search for new preventions or therapies continues.
A recent report on a human monoclonal antibody, aducanumab, showed that a high dose of this antibody reduced clinical decline in patients with early AD as measured by primary and secondary endpoints.
However, it is obvious that it could not be used as a preventive measure in healthy subjects due to the need for frequent (monthly) administration of high concentrations of immunotherapeutic.
The team says there is a pressing need to keep searching for a new preventive vaccine to delay AD and slow down the progression of this devastating disease.
The new combined vaccination approach may be used to induce strong immune responses to both of the hallmark pathologies of AD in a broad population base of vaccinated subjects with high MHC (major histocompatibility complex) class II gene polymorphisms.
One author of the study is Professor Ghochikyan.
The study is published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.
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