Alzheimer's Cure On the Horizon

[QueenOfCalifornia]

I think that this is a pretty substantial discovery. For those of us who have watched Alzheimer's ravage a loved one, this is very good news.

Vaccine Triggers Immune Response, Prevents Alzheimer's In Mice

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — A vaccine created by University of Rochester Medical Center scientists prevents the development of Alzheimer's disease-like pathology in mice without causing inflammation or significant side effects.

Vaccinated mice generated an immune response to the protein known as amyloid-beta peptide, which accumulates in what are called "amyloid plaques" in brains of people with Alzheimer's. The vaccinated mice demonstrated normal learning skills and functioning memory in spite of being genetically designed to develop an aggressive form of the disease.

The Rochester scientists reported the findings in an article in the May issue of Molecular Therapy, the journal of The American Society of Gene Therapy.

"Our study demonstrates that we can create a potent but safe version of a vaccine that utilizes the strategy of immune response shaping to prevent Alzheimer's-related pathologies and memory deficits," said William Bowers, associate professor of neurology and of microbiology and immunology at the Medical Center and lead author of the article. "The vaccinated mice not only performed better, we found no evidence of signature amyloid plaque in their brains."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080519105045.htm

Tissue samples of non-vaccinated mouse with plaque in top image, and vaccinated mouse with no plaque in bottom image.
(Credit: Image courtesy of University of Rochester Medical Center)

[Connie_Corleone]

1. Very promising news. Alzheimers is an awful disease.

My grandmother is in the final stages of it.

[skooooo]

8. sorry Connie...

Sorry to hear that. :-(


(I won't tell you to go see your children this time.)

[QueenOfCalifornia]

13. It sucks

and is so tragic to watch that once vibrant person unable to identify their own kids and it just gets worse.

I am sorry for your grandmother and your family who is pretty helpless to change it. :hug:

[tigereye]

2. sounds promising!

[NJmaverick]

3. Thanks for posting this. It's a terrible disease and I hope this does work out

[BlooInBloo]

4. In time for McCain?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

5. Only McCain's

mice

[klook]

6. This is great, but if I understand correctly

it sounds like it would be a preventive measure, not a cure for people who already have Alzheimer's. Correct?

That's a great development, but calling it a "cure" wouldn't really be accurate. Prevention would be wonderful (assuming likely candidates could be identified and vaccinated), so I'll take that. But for those with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's, a cure is the holy grail.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

9. it is a cure

the same way the Salk vaccine was a cure for polio.

[klook]

15. OK, good analogy.

Thanks.

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. This would be so great.

Of all the things that worry me about getting old, this one and blindness worry me the most.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

10. I worry

about the other old drivers...

scary

[kickysnana]

11. People will then die from what is causing the plaques, often spirochetes. n/t

[zanne]

12. That would be wonderful.

After seeing my mother die slowly from that insidious disease, nobody would be happier than me.

[lame54]

14. Didn't they freeze Reagans head for such a break-through?...

I think it was in 1986

[klook]

16. Or is that Hitler's brain you're thinking of?