Category Archives: Treatment

Alzheimer’s Vaccine…For Mice, Monkeys, and Rabbits

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It’s of course widely accepted that potential drugs for human use must first successfully pass through animal testing. Unfortunately, that in no way guarantees that the candidate drug will be efficacious for the human animal. And this has be depressingly common for drugs directed at Alzheimer’s. Quite a few have done well when tested in the mice model, yet have fallen flat during human testing. (The disappointment of the researchers who have spent years of hard, hopeful work must be brutal.)

Last week a paper was published describing another possible vaccine against Alzheimer’s. It is the latest in about 10 years of work, in which the idea has been tested previously in monkeys and rabbits, and now reports the positive outcomes in mice. The researchers hope that human trials might begin within 3-5 years. Below are links to an institutional press release about the work, to a media article about the work, and to the research paper itself.

DNA Vaccine Reduces Both Toxic Proteins Linked to Alzheimer’s

DNA vaccine reduces both toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer’s

Research article:
Active full-length DNA Aβ42 immunization in 3xTg-AD mice reduces not only amyloid deposition but also tau pathology

All three links have been added to Alzheimers > Treatment > Drugs.

Maybe Flashing Lights For Alzheimer’s Therapy?

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Mice again, but not drugs. Instead, it’s the promising use of strobe-type flashing lights to modify brain waves (neuromodulation) to induce changes beneficial to Alzheimer’s sufferers.

It has been previously noted that both human Alzheimer’s sufferers and the mice models of Alzheimer’s exhibit disrupted gamma waves, which are the highest frequency waves and are associated with higher cognitive events. The study placed mice, genetically engineered to mimic Alzheimer’s symptoms, in a box with strobe lights flashing at 40 cycles per second for an hour a day. This stimulated the visual cortex of the mice to generate more gamma waves, which set in motion an apparent sequence of biological events: A change in gene expression causes microglia (immune cells in the brain) to change shape, going into scavenger mode, where they better perform their usual housekeeping role, clearing away cellular debris, including amyloid-β.

Note how complex the brain and how difficult the science: In Brain Inflammation & Alzheimer’s, we discussed work showing that Alzheimer’s-type inflammatory response on the part of microglia can lead to increase in the deposit of amyloid-β, whereas the present work shows the microglia being stimulated to improve the removal of amyloid-β.

Here is a link to a recent Nature magazine news feature article on the MIT work and related work on the role of brain waves. The article is an excellent explication of the work and how it affects how the brain works:
How flashing lights and pink noise might banish Alzheimer’s, improve memory and more

Below are links to a number of media articles on the work. The first group deals with the MIT group’s earlier report from 2016:
Flashing light therapy’ for Alzheimer’s
Beating Alzheimer’s With Brain Waves
Unique visual stimulation may be new treatment for Alzheimer’s
LED Lights May Be a Promising New Alzheimer’s Treatment, MIT Study Says
Toward Treating Alzheimer’s Disease with Brain Waves
Here is the earlier research article:
Gamma frequency entrainment attenuates amyloid load and modifies microglia

Here are links to media articles on the more recent research:
Alzheimer’s Memory Loss May Be Reversible, MIT Study Says
How does the Sp3-HDAC2 Complex Reduce Synaptic Function in Alzheimer’s?

And here is the more recent research report:
The Transcription Factor Sp3 Cooperates with HDAC2 to Regulate Synaptic Function and Plasticity in Neurons

Light therapy (sitting bathed in light every morning) has been successfully used for treating the form of depression known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) (see e.g., Take Light, Not Drugs). If this strobe-approach to Alzheimer’s is successful with humans, Alzheimer’s treatment could utilize a similar therapeutic approach, or even possibly the two therapies could be combined when appropriate.

All of the links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Treatment