Neurology

‘Customized’ Alzheimer’s Vaccine Shows Promise

Rochester scientists report that they have taken an important step toward creating a vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease, customizing the response of the immune system with unprecedented precision.

Using a harmless form of the herpes virus, scientists at the Medical Center put into mice a payload of genetic information that created a carefully crafted immune response, one that muted the type of toxic side effect seen in a previous study in people of a vaccine against Alzheimer’s. The work was published online in Neurobiology of Aging.

Although the new study was not in people but in mice, researchers are excited because it demonstrates a level of control over an Alzheimer’s vaccine that was previously unattainable.

“This work provides a platform to shuffle the immune response, a flexibility to modify the approach to create a vaccine that is safe and efficacious,” says Howard Federoff, professor of neurology and director of the Center for Aging and Developmental Biology. “This points the way toward shaping and modulating the exact immune response needed to fight or prevent Alzheimer’s disease.”

In a previous study, other researchers showed that a potential vaccine designed to protect against Alzheimer’s was apparently effective in some people—but the vaccine caused severe inflammation in the brains of several participants, and the study was halted last year because of the danger.

Federoff and William Bowers, assistant professor of neurology, set out to create a vaccine without the harmful side effects by boosting part of the immune system not responsible for the side effects.

“From our studies and those of others, it appears that you need to induce specific immune activity to clear existing plaque or prevent the formation of new plaque deposits,” says Bowers.

The team is conducting several more studies designed to contribute toward a custom vaccine against Alzheimer’s.