Alzheimer’s Vaccine on Hold Amid Safety Investigation

clipped from blogs.wsj.com In another setback for the idea that a vaccine might be able to fight Alzheimer’s, two clinical tests of an experimental vaccine known as ACC-001 from Wyeth and Elan have been halted for the investigation of a potential safety problem. In March, one of 59 patients enrolled in studies in Europe and the U.S. was hospitalized after developing skin lesions on the fingers and toes. The patient developed side effects in March, was hospitalized and later released. A Wyeth spokesman told the Health Blog the patient is still being evaluated. The FDA put a halt on the U.S. trial and and the companies voluntarily stopped the European trial, ACC-001 isn’t related to bapineuzumab, an antibody against Alzheimer’s plaques now in phase III testing. Work on an earlier vaccine, called AN-1792, was stopped by the companies years ago after some patients in a clinical trial developed encephalitis.

 

Alzheimer’s vaccine clears plaque but has little effect on learning and memory impairment

clipped from today.uci.edu A promising vaccine being tested for Alzheimer’s disease does what it is designed to do – clear beta-amyloid plaques from the brain – but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to a University of California, Irvine study. The findings suggest that treating the predominant pathology of Alzheimer’s disease – beta-amyloid plaques – by itself may have only limited clinical benefit if started after there is significant plaque growth However, a combination of vaccination with therapies that also target related neuron damage and cognitive decline may provide the best treatment opportunity for people with this neurodegenerative disease “We’ve found that reducing plaques is only part of the puzzle to treat Alzheimer disease,” said study leader, UC Irvine neurobiologist Elizabeth Head. “Vaccines such as this one are a good first step for effective Alzheimer’s treatment, but complimentary treatments must be developed to address the complexity of the disease.”

Alzheimer’s vaccine clears plaque but has little effect on learning and memory impairment

UCI study suggests that combination of therapies provides best opportunity for Alzheimer’s treatment

Irvine, Calif., April 4, 2008

A promising vaccine being tested for Alzheimer’s disease does what it is designed to do – clear beta-amyloid plaques from the brain – but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to a University of California, Irvine study.

The findings suggest that treating the predominant pathology of Alzheimer’s disease – beta-amyloid plaques – by itself may have only limited clinical benefit if started after there is significant plaque growth. However, a combination of vaccination with therapies that also target related neuron damage and cognitive decline may provide the best treatment opportunity for people with this neurodegenerative disease. Study results appear in the April 2 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

“We’ve found that reducing plaques is only part of the puzzle to treat Alzheimer disease,” said study leader, UC Irvine neurobiologist Elizabeth Head. “Vaccines such as this one are a good first step for effective Alzheimer’s treatment, but complimentary treatments must be developed to address the complexity of the disease.”

Head and colleagues studied for a two-year period in aging canines the effect of a vaccine that is currently under clinical development for treating patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The vaccine contains the beta-amyloid 1-42 protein and stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies against this same protein that is in the brain plaques. Dogs are used for such studies because beta-amyloid plaques grow naturally in their brains and they exhibit cognitive declines similar to those seen in humans.

After the aged dogs with beta-amyloid-plaque growth were immunized (which is similar to starting a treatment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease), the researchers found, in comparison with non-treated aged dogs, little difference in the results of behavioral tests that measure cognitive loss. Later, brain autopsies showed that although plaques had been cleared from multiple brain regions – including the entorhinal cortex, a region of the brain involved with learning and memory and primarily affected by Alzheimer’s – damaged neurons remained.

Head said this discovery helps explain why there was little difference in the behavioral test results between immunized and nonimmunized dogs. In addition, she added, it implies that after clearing beta-amyloid plaques from the brain, the next step is to repair these neurons. This approach will be critical for treating and reversing the effects of the Alzheimer’s disease.

Currently, Head and her colleagues are developing approaches to repair these damaged neurons and hope to test them clinically.

Head is a researcher with the UC Irvine Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia. Viorela Pop, Vitaly Vasilevko, Mary Ann Hill, Tommy Saing, Floyd Sarsoza, Michaela Nistor, Lori-Ann Christie, Saskia Milton, Charles Glabe and David Cribbs of UC Irvine; and Edward Barrett of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, N.M., assisted with the study. The National Institutes of Health supported the study, and the Lovelace Institute provided the canine study subjects.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 27,000 undergraduate and graduate students and nearly 2,000 faculty members. The third-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.6 billion. For more UCI news, visit http://www.today.uci.edu.

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease and Memory Loss in Later Life

 

Alzheimer’s vaccine clears plaque but has little effect on learning and memory impairment

clipped from today.uci.edu A promising vaccine being tested for Alzheimer’s disease does what it is designed to do – clear beta-amyloid plaques from the brain – but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to a University of California, Irvine study. The findings suggest that treating the predominant pathology of Alzheimer’s disease – beta-amyloid plaques – by itself may have only limited clinical benefit if started after there is significant plaque growth However, a combination of vaccination with therapies that also target related neuron damage and cognitive decline may provide the best treatment opportunity for people with this neurodegenerative disease “We’ve found that reducing plaques is only part of the puzzle to treat Alzheimer disease,” said study leader, UC Irvine neurobiologist Elizabeth Head. “Vaccines such as this one are a good first step for effective Alzheimer’s treatment, but complimentary treatments must be developed to address the complexity of the disease.”

Alzheimer’s vaccine clears plaque but has little effect on learning and memory impairment

UCI study suggests that combination of therapies provides best opportunity for Alzheimer’s treatment

Irvine, Calif., April 4, 2008

A promising vaccine being tested for Alzheimer’s disease does what it is designed to do – clear beta-amyloid plaques from the brain – but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to a University of California, Irvine study.

The findings suggest that treating the predominant pathology of Alzheimer’s disease – beta-amyloid plaques – by itself may have only limited clinical benefit if started after there is significant plaque growth. However, a combination of vaccination with therapies that also target related neuron damage and cognitive decline may provide the best treatment opportunity for people with this neurodegenerative disease. Study results appear in the April 2 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

“We’ve found that reducing plaques is only part of the puzzle to treat Alzheimer disease,” said study leader, UC Irvine neurobiologist Elizabeth Head. “Vaccines such as this one are a good first step for effective Alzheimer’s treatment, but complimentary treatments must be developed to address the complexity of the disease.”

Head and colleagues studied for a two-year period in aging canines the effect of a vaccine that is currently under clinical development for treating patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The vaccine contains the beta-amyloid 1-42 protein and stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies against this same protein that is in the brain plaques. Dogs are used for such studies because beta-amyloid plaques grow naturally in their brains and they exhibit cognitive declines similar to those seen in humans.

After the aged dogs with beta-amyloid-plaque growth were immunized (which is similar to starting a treatment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease), the researchers found, in comparison with non-treated aged dogs, little difference in the results of behavioral tests that measure cognitive loss. Later, brain autopsies showed that although plaques had been cleared from multiple brain regions – including the entorhinal cortex, a region of the brain involved with learning and memory and primarily affected by Alzheimer’s – damaged neurons remained.

Head said this discovery helps explain why there was little difference in the behavioral test results between immunized and nonimmunized dogs. In addition, she added, it implies that after clearing beta-amyloid plaques from the brain, the next step is to repair these neurons. This approach will be critical for treating and reversing the effects of the Alzheimer’s disease.

Currently, Head and her colleagues are developing approaches to repair these damaged neurons and hope to test them clinically.

Head is a researcher with the UC Irvine Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia. Viorela Pop, Vitaly Vasilevko, Mary Ann Hill, Tommy Saing, Floyd Sarsoza, Michaela Nistor, Lori-Ann Christie, Saskia Milton, Charles Glabe and David Cribbs of UC Irvine; and Edward Barrett of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, N.M., assisted with the study. The National Institutes of Health supported the study, and the Lovelace Institute provided the canine study subjects.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 27,000 undergraduate and graduate students and nearly 2,000 faculty members. The third-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.6 billion. For more UCI news, visit http://www.today.uci.edu.

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease and Memory Loss in Later Life

 

Alzheimer’s Treatments Advance in Clinic

clipped from www.google.com Alzheimer’s is on the rise, but scientists are making progress on treatments they think may finally make a dent in the disease. But as Forbes reports, researchers still aren’t certain about the cause of the illness. That gap in knowledge means that a range of drugs that aim to clear the brain of amyloid plaque, clumps of protein fragments that are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s, may never work. Some skeptics of the dominant amyloid hypothesis think the build-ups are “actually a response to injury that the brain secretes to protect itself, like a scar,” says Mark Smith, a neuroscientist at Case Western Reserve University. He tells Forbes that by removing it, “you will make the disease worse.”

 

Alzheimer’s Vaccine Patch Works in Mice

The Alzheimer’s vaccine being tested works by triggering the immune system to recognize and attack Ab — a protein that abnormally builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

Source United Press International

Alzheimer’s vaccine patch works in mice

MIAMI, Jan. 22 (UPI) — A transdermal vaccine shows promise in treating the deadly memory-impairment disorder Alzheimer’s disease in mice, say U.S. researchers.

The needle-free approach appeared effective in clearing the Alzheimer’s-affected animals of the brain-damaging plaques that mark the disease, said researchers at the University of South Florida.

“While many groups have shown vaccinating against the beta amyloid protein (Ab) can reduce Alzheimer’s-like pathology including certain cognitive deficits, this study is the first to demonstrate that immunization using the skin may be an effective way to reduce Ab pathology,” said senior study author Jun Tan, director of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Psychiatry at USF.

The Alzheimer’s vaccine being tested works by triggering the immune system to recognize and attack Ab — a protein that abnormally builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

“The beauty is that something as simple and non-invasive as a skin patch could potentially be a promising therapy for Alzheimer’s disease,” said study coauthor Terrence Town.

A transdermal treatment for the disease would also reduce the risk of adverse immune reactions, the researchers said.

The study is published online this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.