Most Alzheimer's vaccine research aims to prevent the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaque in the brain that can interfere with memory and cognition. However, work on a vaccine was derailed when a study in 2002 showed that an investigational vaccine targeting amyloid-beta also caused an autoimmune response that led to dangerous inflammation in the brain.
In the new study, a team at UC Irvine tested a vaccine developed against a non-human protein that is similar to amyloid-beta but has a different sequence of amino acids. Because the protein in the vaccine is non-human, it's hoped that the vaccine would not cause inflammation.
"The idea is if we can overcome this auto-inflammatory reaction, we might be able to develop a safe vaccine," said the senior author of the study, neuroscientist Charles Glabe of UC Irvine, at a news conference Tuesday in San Diego. "It's not a good idea to vaccinate humans with a human protein because of autoimune complications. In contrast, random or non-human peptide antigens are very safe."
