Researchers continue to make improvements when it comes to an experimental vaccine that might be able to hold of Alzheimer’s in the future. The scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center tested the vaccine on animals and the results were more than promising.
The vaccine was used on mice and researchers observed that it helped prevent the buildup when it comes to substances linked with Alzheimer’s. You can find out more in the Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy journal.
Human trials are next
The researchers already used monkeys and rabbits for their test and so far the vaccine proved to be effective. The next step are human trials. If these tests prove to be successful, the vaccine could become life-changing for numerous patients. Scientists believe that it could reduce the dementia cases in half.
Alzheimer’s is the principal cause for dementia, which is the term uses to describe cognitive decline. “If the onset of the disease could be delayed by even five years, that would be enormous for the patients and their families. The number of dementia cases could drop by half,” explained Dr. Doris Lambracht-Washington, a professor of neurology and neurotherapeutics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
This is not the first time researchers attempt to come up with a vaccine for Alzheimer’s, but in the past such attempts prove to be ineffective, because they came with dangerous side effects, including brain inflammation.
This new vaccine determines the body to produce antibodies and it does that by inhibiting the buildup of amyloid and tau. These are two proteins which are connected to the Alzheimer’s disease. More than 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and the number is expected to grow. This vaccine could prove to be life changing for them.