The lives of Alzheimer’s patients can change dramatically. Scientists have succeeded in creating a vaccine that protects against this serious neurodegenerative disease. And it seems to really work.
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 26 million people in 2006. It is expected that by 2050 the number of cases will increase at least 4 times.
It is a serious neurodegenerative disease that mainly affects the elderly. There are quite rare forms of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects middle-aged people and even young people.
Patients have short-term memory impairments that are not always taken seriously at first. It seems that it becomes more difficult for a person to remember something new. At first, such forgetfulness is attributed to fatigue from increased stress or the influence of stress.
Gradually, the disease progresses: not only memory suffers, but also speech, and the ability to think and make decisions. The simplest activities – self-care, personal hygiene, eating, not to mention communication, become less accessible. On average, after diagnosis, patients live for about 7 years, but only a small proportion of patients manage to live longer than 10 years. Their care falls to the next of kin, who cannot always afford a carer or nurses.
Why does Alzheimer’s disease occur?
Scientists do not yet have an exact answer to the question of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. There are two popular versions. The first is the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain. Beta-amyloid is present in the brain of all people, but in Alzheimer’s disease, it begins to form characteristic accumulations. The second version is a violation of the structure of the tau protein and the appearance of neurofibrillary tangles. It is believed that both mechanisms contribute to the development of the disease: both amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles interfere with the normal transmission of signals in the brain, due to which it begins to work abnormally.
How is Alzheimer’s disease treated?
There is no single system for treating the disease, and there is no effective medicine that can cope with the disease and restore lost functions. However, new drugs are constantly being developed and tested. They have a different mechanism of action, and their effectiveness remains questionable.
The emergence of a vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease, developed by the pharmaceutical company Axon Neuroscience, could be a real revolution in the treatment of this disease. We are talking about the drug AADvac1, which has successfully passed the second phase of clinical trials involving patients.
What is known about the vaccine
AADvac1 is a peptide vaccine. After its introduction, antibodies against the tau protein begin to be produced in the body. The resulting antibodies bind to the tau protein, which prevents the formation of neurofibrillary tangles.
First, the vaccines were tested on rats – everything was successful. After that, the first phase of clinical trials began, during which the safety of the drug was studied. It involved patients aged 50 to 85 years with moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Serious side effects were identified in two patients, but the majority tolerated the drug normally. In addition, the participants improved the results of cognitive tests, which is good news.
After such success, it became clear that the second phase of clinical trials was needed. It was attended by 196 people. The phase itself lasted 24 months. The Alzheimer’s vaccine works: antibodies against the tau protein were produced in 98.3% of those who received it. Serious side effects were observed in about 17% of those who received the vaccine and in 24% of those who received the placebo.
Scientists note that they failed to note significant improvements in the condition of the participants in the experiment – their memory, speech, and other cognitive abilities remained practically unchanged. They emphasize, however, that the sample size is rather small, and therefore it is necessary to repeat the trials with more participants. It is important that the participants have a form of the disease-associated specifically with the tau protein, in which case the results will be more revealing.
How to estimate your chances of Alzheimer’s disease
Scientists have calculated that every third case of Alzheimer’s disease is preventable: for this, it is enough to make quite feasible changes in your lifestyle. For example, give up bad habits, move more, sleep enough, and monitor weight and pressure.
To understand how likely it is to face dementia after 55 years, scientists from Canada have developed a special online calculator. To create it, it was necessary to study the medical records of 75,000 people, about 8,000 of whom suffered from dementia.
The tool is a kind of questionnaire where you need to enter data on age, bad habits, level of physical activity, and many other parameters. With the help of the calculator, you can calculate the risk of developing dementia, get data, as well as advice on what exactly you need to change in your lifestyle in order to stay healthy and clear mind for longer.
Editorial Team
