Alzheimer’s Disease is a devastating condition that occurs after a progressive destruction of the brain.
The cost of treating these patients has grown exponentially in the last few decades and as projections stand now, Alzheimer's cases will balloon by up to 14 million by the year 2050. The aging population and more prevalent risk factors explain this projection.
The quest for an Alzheimer's vaccine: What progress has been made so far?
Progress has been painfully slow over the last 20 years because there's still much we don't know about Alzheimer’s disease. When researchers are unable to identify the mechanism that causes the brain damage responsible for Alzheimer's, it is much harder to identify targets that can used to potentially improve the condition.
What we do know about Alzheimer’s is that it seems to be linked to an accumulation of damaged proteins in the brain called B-amyloids. The brain naturally produces these proteins all the time, but our immune system does a great job at digesting them and getting rid of them so they do not cause a problem when we are younger.
The immune system can only do so much, however, meaning that if we have other conditions that can increase the rate at which these proteins accumulate, our body will begin to have too many to sort through. When we have conditions like hypertension, cholesterol deposits, or chronic brain injuries like after concussions, these proteins are produced faster than the body can clean them out. Brain damage results.
At the turn of the new millennium, one type of immunotherapy that seemed to be making a difference in animal models was a source of much anticipation. When researchers injected a specific antibody into the brain that would block the production of these damaged proteins, levels began to fall and cognitive testing results improved.
When human trials were approved, however, the wheels fell off the wagon so to speak. The trial was immediately halted in 1999 because nearly 10 percent of participants developed encephalitis, or more simply put inflammation of the brain.
A vaccine for Alzheimer's: What the future may hold
As you have seen, the last 20 years of Alzheimer's vaccination research have seen a mixture of success and failure — but we still don't have an agent that we can give to provide protection against the future development of Alzheimer's disease.
This may not make much of a difference to the current middle-aged population because those who eventually do develop Alzheimer's will still have the same treatment that can marginally improve their life but will not reverse the course of the disease. Unfortunately, this is how progress is made in science; it takes decades to achieve seemingly insignificant breakthroughs. These small findings can dramatically change the way scientists approach a problem and this can lead to further breakthroughs in the future.
Findings from the last 20 years have pointed to the fact that once there is an immune response to patients with Alzheimer's disease, little can be done to slow down the process. This suggests that perhaps there is a way to target these patients at an earlier age to stop the immune response from occurring in the first place.
Where we currently stand on the front of actual research and development would be that the most promising idea for now is the targeting of the tau protein. This is a protein that is commonly found to be misfolded and accumulates in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
While this is an intriguing find, there is a large gap between animal models and humans. The human brain is much more complex and it is likely that the same mechanisms may not be able to be applied to human cases. Nevertheless, this is the closest medicine has come to any type of vaccine in the last few decades and scientists are hopeful that targeting the tau protein can yield further clues to unlocking the mystery.
You may come across numerous articles online proclaiming that vaccinations are already available to help prevent Alzheimer's disease but there is no true vaccine even close to being ready for human use.
Although this may be disheartening, you are not at the mercy of luck and genetics when it comes to a future diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Modifiable risk factors can greatly predispose you to the condition. These could be diseases like hypertension, diabetes and obesity.
Make sure that you go to your family doctor at least once a year for a general wellness examination and if you are diagnosed with one of these conditions, do what you to stop permanent damage. Diet and exercise are the best strategy to have lasting positive impacts on your health but there are medications that can help you along the way to reduce these risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.