Gene vaccine for Alzheimer's disease shows promisi...( the first step to see if we can apply t...)

Said Dr. Rosenberg: "When we vaccinated the mice with the mouse form of the amyloid gene, they made lots of antibodies without stimulating cytotoxic T cells. When we get to human studies, we hope to show that humans can make human antibodies against the amyloid as well."

Current treatments for Alzheimer's disease focus on the symptoms since no therapies have been clinically proven to slow or prevent progression of the disease. Amyloid protein deposits are present in the early phase of the disease a fact that suggests a gene vaccination would be a step forward in slowing the progression of dementia.

From the mouse studies and in previous clinical trials of patients with Alzheimer's disease, immunization with amyloids slowed the buildup of plaque on the brain and appeared to slow cognitive loss.

"Although human clinical trials are still at least two years out, theoretically, we are on the right track," he said.

Other UT Southwestern authors involved in the study were Dr. Liping Li, a research fellow in the Center for Biomedical Inventions; and Dr. Philip Boyer, assistant professor of pathology.

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Contact: Katherine Morales
katherine.morales@utsouthwestern.edu
214-648-3404
UT Southwestern Medical Center
14-Dec-2004