Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease that takes its toll on humans and their caretakers.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and affects memory, thinking, and behavior.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, symptoms develop slowly and get worse over time.
For years people have suffered, hoping that one day there would be a cure.
That day might have arrived.
Researchers at the University of Texas have developed a vaccine they say helps the body to attack Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles before they start to shut down the brain.
The DNA vaccine has been tested on animals but scientists hope that the vaccine will soon head to clinical trials.
According to KUTV, the experimental vaccine reduces the accumulation of two types of toxic proteins that are believed to cause Alzheimer’s.
The vaccine does not have any adverse effects, like brain swelling, unlike previous vaccines that had severe brain swelling as a side effect.
The study was conducted over a decade by the University’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute.
Researchers say the vaccine could have major impacts on sufferers and their families.
“If the onset of the disease could be delayed by even five years, that would be enormous for the patients and their families,” Dr. Doris Lambracht-Washington, the study’s senior author, said. “The number of dementia cases could drop by half.”
The vaccine, called DNA Aβ42, is delivered via a shot superficially through the skin and activates one’s immune response to reduce the build-up of harmful tau and beta-amyloids.
“This study is the culmination of a decade of research that has repeatedly demonstrated that this vaccine can effectively and safely target in animal models what we think may cause Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Roger Rosenberg, founding Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at UT Southwestern. “I believe we’re getting close to testing this therapy in people.”
The vaccine has been tested in three mammals bringing it closer to clinical trials.
Alzheimer’s affects about 5.7 million Americans.
That number is expected to double by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccine is expected to be most effective in patients who haven’t fully developed Alzheimer’s but have high levels of tau and amyloid stored in their brains.
“The longer you wait, the less effect it will probably have,” Rosenberg said. “Once those plaques and tangles have formed, it may be too late.”
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