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The vaccine against Alzheimer's disease has successfully passed clinical trials
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists from the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) report the first positive effect of an active vaccine against Alzheimer's disease.
The vaccine with the symbol CAD106 is called a real breakthrough in the long search for a saving remedy for this very serious disease that causes dementia and ultimately death. The report on its development and testing is published in the journal Lancet Neurology.
Alzheimer's disease is a complex neurological disease, accompanied by progressive dementia. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, dementia is the fastest growing global epidemic of our days. The prevailing hypothesis about the causes of the disease blames the APP protein, which is located in the outer membranes of nerve cells, and which, instead of being peacefully split at a certain time, as it is supposed to proteins, avoids this fate, forming a harmful substance - beta amyloid. The latter accumulates in the form of plaques and kills brain cells.
There is no medicine from Alzheimer's. All that can be done is only to soften the symptoms. However, scientists do not give up, the search for effective therapeutic agents does not freeze for a second. Alas, the clinical trials of the first candidate for the title of anti-Alzheimer's vaccine, which were conducted almost a decade ago, were accompanied by too many negative side reactions and were quickly curtailed. The principle of the vaccine used then was to activate certain white blood cells (T cells), which began to attack their own brain substance. It sounds repulsive, and if you remember about "negative side reactions", then it becomes simply frightening for the subjects.
The new vaccine is different in spirit from the first unsuccessful development. The principle of the present means is active immunization, which triggers an immune defense against beta-amyloids, rather than its own brain tissue.
In clinical trials in humans, it was found that 80% of patients developed their own antibodies against beta-amyloids without any side effects for three years of testing. Thus, it should be recognized that the vaccine CAD106 is a portable therapeutic agent for people with mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease.
But these were small trials, now the turn for full-scale long tests of a promising means ...