According to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2023, researchers at Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine in Tokyo have developed a groundbreaking vaccine that targets the root of Alzheimer’s Disease. Although the study was carried out on mice and is yet to be peer-reviewed, it has very promising implications for future treatment of Alzheimer’s in humans.
In Alzheimer’s cases, high inflammation levels in the brain lead to the overexpression of a protein called Senescence associated glycoprotein (SAGP). Increased levels of SAGP lead to abnormalities in the brain such as the build-up of amyloid plaque deposits between neurons which cause problems with attention, language-processing and problem-solving. The vaccine targets the overexpression of SAGP in microglia, a glial cell of the brain.
When tested on a mouse model that mimics a human brain with Alzheimer’s, the vaccine led to several inflammatory biomarkers being reduced including significant reduction of amyloid deposits in brain tissue of the vaccinated mice. It also caused a heightened awareness of their surroundings. People with late-stage Alzheimer’s usually have low anxiety meaning they are not mindful of their environment. The vaccinated mice in this study showed signs of anxiety and were more cautious of their surroundings which indicates, not only a change in brain chemistry, but also in behavior.
“Earlier studies using different vaccines to treat Alzheimer’s disease in mouse models have been successful in reducing amyloid plaque deposits and inflammatory factors, however, what makes our study different is that our SAGP vaccine also altered the behavior of these mice for the better,” said Chieh-Lun Hsiao, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in the department of cardiovascular biology and medicine at Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine in Tokyo.
“Our novel vaccine test in mice points to a potential way to prevent or modify the disease. The future challenge will be to achieve similar results in humans. If the vaccine could prove to be successful in humans, it would be a big step forward towards delaying disease progression or even prevention of this disease.” says Hsiao.
References: American Heart Association Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (2023) https://newsroom.heart.org/news/novel-vaccine-may-hold-key-to-prevent-or-reduce-the-impact-of-alzheimers-disease
