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<\/noscript> <\/div>\nMore than six million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s. The latest vaccine from researchers in Japan, if formatted to be administered to humans, could effectively stop the disease in its tracks once it starts and even chip away at harmful plaques in the brain before they become full-blown Alzheimer’s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The new study – which is still ongoing – involves testing the vaccine in mice who had mutated versions of an amyloid precursor protein inserted into their genes.<\/p>\n
Amyloid plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s and are believed to speed up the death of brain cells.<\/p>\n
There is still some debate about whether they cause the disease or are a symptom of it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some mice received a vaccine while others received a placebo.\u00a0The vaccine given to mice at two and four months old was designed to target a specific molecule on the brain’s outer membrane of damaged or ‘senescent’ cells.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That molecule is called\u00a0senescence-associated glycoprotein (SAGP).\u00a0<\/p>\n
By identifying this specific site on a cell, scientists can more precisely target the root cause of Alzheimers – in this case, the accumulation of toxic plaques – rather than just the symptoms such as cognitive decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once inserted into the mice, the vaccine effectively trained their immune system to recognize SAGP on the surface of damaged cells as a harmful foreign invader.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the immune system was primed to seek out SAGP, it mounted an attack against them, killing them off.<\/p>\n
The vaccine effectively reduced SAGP and amyloid deposits in the mouse brains in the region responsible for language processes, attention, and problem solving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It showed other positive effects that suggest it could work in humans. When placed in a maze-type device to test the vaccine’s impact on behavior, the mice who received the SAGP vaccine tended to behave like normal healthy mice and exhibited more awareness of their surroundings.<\/p>\n
Dr Hsiao said: ‘Alzheimer\u2019s disease now accounts for 50% to 70% of dementia patients worldwide. Our study\u2019s 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.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/noscript> <\/div>\nFrom 1906 when\u00a0clinical psychiatrist \u00a0Alois Alzheimer\u00a0first reported a ‘severe disease of the cerebral cortex’ to uncovering the mechanics of the disease in the 1980s-90s to today’s ‘breakthrough’ drug lecanemab,\u00a0 scientists have spent over a century trying to grapple with the brutal disease that robs people of their cognition and independence\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n