Possible dementia vaccine targets clinical trials

A possible vaccine for dementia is one-step closer to clinical trials after promising research in mice. 

Researchers in the US are looking to develop a dual vaccine which works by removing plaque on the brain along with tau protein aggregates, both of which are linked to Alzheimer’s disease. 

Teams in both the US and Australia have tested a new formula on bigenic mice models which could result in the vaccine progressing to human trials within as little as two years. 

Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine and University of California, Irvine (UCI) worked with a successful vaccine formulated on adjuvant developed by Flinders University professor Nikolai Petrovsky in South Australia. 

The formula is delivered via an Advax adjuvant, a type of delivery method  designed to improve the effectiveness of a therapy. 

The researchers tested universal MultiTEP (thiethylperazine) vaccines in a bid to remove both accumulated beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and tau tangles in mice.

Both Aβ and tau tangles are thought to lead to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in people with Azheimer’s disease. 

Tau is a protein found within nerve cells and which is responsible for supporting microtubules in the brain which are essential for transporting nutrients.

In a person with dementia, tau proteins collapse and become unable to support these microtubules, meaning nerve cells eventually die due to a lack of nutrients. 

Professor of the Institute for Molecular Medicine Anahit Ghochikya and Mathew Blurton-Jones from UCI said: “Taken together, these findings warrant further development of this dual vaccination strategy based on the MultiTEP technology for ultimate testing in human Alzheimer’s disease.” 

Professor Petrovsky 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.  

“Our approach is looking to cover all bases and get past previous roadblocks in finding a therapy to slow the accumulation of Aβ/tau molecules and delay AD progression in a the rising number of people around the world,” says professor Petrovsky, who will work in the US for the next three months. 

Recent clinical trials by pharma have failed to result in successful therapies for Alzheimer’s. Currently, it’s thought that Alzheimer’s disease affects around 50 million people globally, a figure which is expected to double every 20 years.