2024-07-28 16:05:27
Although vaccines were primarily used to prevent infectious diseases, they are thought to have the potential to fight other diseases as well, including several types of cancer. These studies are still in an early phase.
Is it realistic to think about Alzheimer’s vaccines? Vaccines designed to prevent a particular infection—say, the flu—usually inject a small particle of the flu virus into the body. The immune system recognizes it, determines that it is foreign, and starts producing cells that can identify and kill the real flu virus if it enters the body.
In Alzheimer’s disease, certain proteins build up in the brain. Nine Alzheimer’s vaccine trials are currently underway. All are for people with mild Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
All vaccines are designed to stimulate the immune system to remove proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease from the brain. Most vaccines are injectable, but a nasal spray has also been tested at Harvard Medical School. It will be a few years before we know if this preparation is effective.
One problem is that harmful proteins begin to accumulate in the brain long before the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease appear.
Fortunately, tests are being developed to help identify younger people with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Vaccines for them could theoretically be more effective than those given to patients who already have symptoms of the disease.
Finally, there is an entirely different way in which vaccines could help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. What causes the accumulation of amyloid-beta and Tau proteins in people with this disease?
A growing body of research suggests that brain infections at a relatively young age, especially infections that occurred decades ago, can lead to higher levels of amyloid-beta protein in the body, increasing the likelihood of Alzheimer’s later in life.
Vaccines targeting those infections could one day also theoretically reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Treatments that reduce inflammation in the brain are also being considered.
All this is theory for now, but not practice. Also, even if vaccines work, we won’t know for a long time. Because Alzheimer’s disease takes decades to develop, it will take a long time to determine whether vaccines can be effective. But the only way out is to continue research.
Adapted from: www.health.harvard.edu inf.
2024-07-28 16:05:27