Alzheimer’s Disease

Safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, and efficacy of UB-311 in participants with mild Alzheimer's disease: a randomised, double

While the U.S. government has recently licensed monoclonal antibody therapies (LEQEMBI®), anti-amyloid vaccines may offer a convenient, affordable, and accessible means of preventing and treating Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

The Lancet's eBioMedicine recently published a paper that concludes that UB-311, an immunotherapeutic vaccine candidate targeting toxic forms of aggregated beta-amyloid in the brain to treat and prevent AD, is the most advanced active immunotherapy targeting beta-amyloid in the clinic.

Published on July 29, 2023, this research paper concludes Vaxxinity, Inc. UB-311 is an active immunotherapy, "was safe and well-tolerated," with early clinical data demonstrating a trend for slowing cognitive decline in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD).

And UB-311 could offer multiple competitive advantages over licensed passive immunotherapies, including less frequent dosing, a more convenient mode of administration, improved accessibility, and cost-effectiveness.

Furthermore, UB-311 is designed to produce antibodies against toxic beta-amyloid (Aβ) oligomers and fibrils in the brain.

This phase 2a clinical study met its primary prespecified outcomes.

It indicated the safety of active immunotherapy with UB-311 in amyloid PET-positive individuals with mild Alzheimer's dementia taking multiple doses over an extended period.

Mei Mei Hu, Vaxxinity CEO, informed Precision Vaccinations on August 13, 2023, "Even with a fully FDA-approved mAb for Alzheimer's on the market, high unmet need remains that we believe only an active immunotherapy can address: specifically one that is more convenient, safe and accessible for patients, caregivers and health systems."

"Active immunotherapies like UB-311 have the potential to reach dramatically more people compared to costly monoclonals because they can be more affordable, dosed less frequently and not need to be administered at specialized infusion centers, and thus, be scaled to address the broadest patient population including ultimately for prevention."

"The recent peer-reviewed publication of our Phase 2a trial is a testament to our continued efforts to eradicate AD."

The limitations of this company-funded study include the small sample size, indicating that additional trials in a larger participant population will be needed to confirm the results.

Alzheimer's is a progressive neurodegenerative disease poised to be one of the most significant socioeconomic health burdens globally over the coming decades.

In the United States, about 11% of seniors (≥65 years) currently have Alzheimer's dementia, and this proportion is expected to grow with the aging population. The economic burden of AD is expected to surpass $2.8 trillion by 2030.

Recently, the AP reported on August 11, 2023, some private insurers are balking at paying for U.S.-approved Alzheimer's mAb therapies. These mAbs require IV infusions every two weeks, costing around $26,500 annually.

These insurers contrast Medicare, which previously announced it would cover most of the costs for patients who take these mAbs.

Note: The article was updated for content and clinical clarity on August 16, 2023.

Sub Title:

Vaxxinity UB-311 immunotherapeutic vaccine targets Alzheimers dementia

References:

UB-311 could offer multiple competitive advantages

Alzheimer's disease vaccine candidates August 2023

Image:

Age Groups:

Seniors

Google News Keywords:

Alzheimer, vaccinations

Featured:

Fact checked:

Monday, August 14, 2023 - 05:30

Image Caption:

by Gerd Altmann

Old Vaccine Associated with a Significantly Lower Rate and Risk of Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias

Karen McClorey Hackett — Tue, 23 May 2023 15:20:34 +0000

Reviewer:

Association of BCG Vaccine Treatment With Death and Dementia in Patients With Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

A recent study conducted in Boston, MA, found patients appear to live longer and have a reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) after BCG vaccine treatment.

This Original Investigation was published by the peer-review journal The JAMA Network Open on May 19, 2023, and found the 100-year-old Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), this study's analyses revealed that treatment with the BCG vaccine was associated with a 20% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

The protective association was more significant in patients aged 70 years or older.

Additionally, 751 patients in the BCG vaccine group and 973 in the control group died during follow-up.

Thus, treatment with BCG vaccine was associated with a 25% lower risk of death.

"A vaccine like BCG, if proven effective, is a perfect example of a cost-effective, population-health–based solution to a devastating illness like Alzheimer's disease," stated Marc Weinberg, MD, Ph.D., an Instructor in Psychiatry at MGH, in a press release on May 19, 2023. Clinical trials are required to study its efficacy beyond treatment in patients with bladder cancer.

"We are shifting our focus towards studying the potential benefits of BCG vaccination of older adults in Alzheimer's disease-related clinical trials."

If a causal link is found, it will be important to understand the mechanisms involved.

Weinberg and his colleagues note that the BCG vaccine's effects on the immune system may play a role.

The BCG vaccine is an attenuated, live culture preparation of the BCG strain of Mycobacterium Bovis. The initial BCG vaccine was developed in 1921 by French scientists Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin.

Various BCG vaccines are integrated into pediatric vaccination schedules in multiple countries (Africa, Brazil, India, the U.K., etc.) primarily to reduce the risk of tuberculosis.

However, in the U.S., access to the BCG vaccine is limited to reducing tuberculosis risks, says the U.S. CDC.

Recently, BCG vaccinations have been associated with treating a type of bladder cancer.

Additional co-authors include Sun Young Chung, BS; Wesley H. Chou, MD; Madhur Nayan, MD, Ph.D.; Mayuresh Deodhar, MS; Daniel M. Frendl, MD, Ph.D.; Adam S. Feldman, MD, MPH; Denise L. Faustman, MD, Ph.D.; Steven E. Arnold, MD; and Bella Vakulenko-Lagun, Ph.D.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer's Association.

Sub Title:

BCG vaccine therapy for patients with a type of bladder cancer is associated with a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer's

References:

Early data from Mass General researchers suggests the BCG vaccine could have a protective effect against Alzheimer's disease

Image:

Age Groups:

65 and Over

Google News Keywords:

vaccinations, bcg, cancer, dementia

Featured:

Fact checked:

Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 05:15

Image Caption:

by Kosta

Sleepless Nights After Noisy Flights

Karen McClorey Hackett — Mon, 08 May 2023 20:00:53 +0000

Reviewer:

Associations between Aircraft Noise Exposure and Self-Reported Sleep Duration

Holly Lutmer PharmD

As the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continues reporting a rebound in air travel compared with 2019 activity, a new analysis has found that exposure to even moderate levels of airplane noise may disrupt a person's normal sleep.

Aircraft noise is unique for its multispectral acoustical properties that impact the human auditory system.

The study showed that the odds of sleeping less than seven hours rose as airplane noise exposure increased.

A lack of adequate sleep has increased risks of cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, cancer, and numerous other health conditions. Health experts state that most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night for healthy functioning.

Published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives on April 14, 2023, the Boston and Oregon State Universities (OSU) study found that air passengers exposed to airplane noise at levels as low as 45 dB were more likely to sleep less than seven hours per night.

For comparison, the sound of a whisper is 30 dB, a library setting is 40 dB, and a typical conversation at home is 50 dB.

These researchers examined airplane noise exposure and self-reported sleep disturbance among more than 35,000 participants living around 90 of the major US airports.

This study is the first large-scale analysis of aircraft noise and sleep duration that accounts for the disruptive effects of multiple environmental exposures in communities, such as greenery and light at night.

Despite how everyday exposure to noise from aircraft is for many people, little is known about the health effects of aircraft noise, particularly in the U.S., according to study lead author Matthew Bozigar, assistant professor of epidemiology at OSU.

Short sleep duration was also more likely among nurses who lived on the West Coast, near a major cargo airport or a large body of water, and nurses who reported no hearing loss.

While the results suggested a clear link between airplane noise and sleep duration, the researchers observed no consistent association between aircraft noise and quality of sleep.

Note: As of May 7, 2023, the U.S. TSA reported airport security activity was recently comparable to volumes measured in 2019.

Sub Title:

Aircraft noise is unique for its multispectral acoustical properties

References:

Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance from Road, Rail and Aircraft Noise

U.S. CDC - Airport Noise and Self-Reported Sleep Insufficiency

Image:

Google News Keywords:

airline, travel

Featured:

Fact checked:

Monday, May 15, 2023 - 15:30

Image Caption:

from Pixabay

Pharmacists Effectively Administered Passive Immunizations Too

Donald Hackett — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 20:05:28 +0000

Reviewer:

Subcutaneous REGEN-COV antibody administration in a community pharmacy

Holly Lutmer PharmD

During the recent pandemic, the U.S. government authorized the expansion of the scope of pharmacy practice. An often-mentioned success story is the number of COVID-19 vaccinations administrated by pharmacists to senior citizens.

A second, less-known success was the safe and effective delivery of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in a community pharmacy.

To highlight this achievement, a retrospective, observational study was published by the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association on January 7, 2023, which concluded community pharmacists could administer mAbs safely and effectively in an outpatient setting with low adverse events.

Of the 93 patients included in this study, adverse effects were reported in 4.3% of patients at mAbs administration and 9.7% at follow-up.

The study authors, Tyler S. Dougherty, PharmD, BCACP, Jimmy McBride, Carol L. Barnett, and Wendy M. Gabriel, wrote, 'pharmacists should continue to evaluate potential clinical service offerings in pharmacist to increase patient healthcare access and demonstrate their value in the healthcare system.'

'A Call to Action is needed to permanently expand federal and state pharmacy practice regulations to maintain the valuable public health services provided by pharmacists during the recent pandemic.'

Another significant opportunity may present itself this summer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a supplemental Biologics License Application on March 6, 2023, for LEQEMBI™, a humanized immunoglobulin gamma 1 mAbs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

The LEQEMBI application has been granted by the FDA Priority Review, with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date of July 6, 2023.

If approved, treatment with LEQEMBI could be initiated in qualifying patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia stage of the disease.

According to the Alzheimer's Association's Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures, an estimated 6.5 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with dementia due to AD.

The recommended dosage of LEQEMBI is 10 mg/kg administered as an intravenous infusion that takes about one hour, once every two weeks.

If the demand for this innovative therapy surpasses traditional delivery models, pharmacies may be called into service again since most people live within a few miles of a community pharmacy.

Immunity to a disease is achieved through the presence of antibodies to that disease in a person's system, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

When mAbs are administered, people are given antibodies to a disease (passive immunity) rather than producing them through their immune system following vaccination or infection.

The CDC says the significant advantage of passive immunity is that protection is immediate, whereas active immunity (vaccination) takes time to develop.

Either way, if an immune person comes into contact with that disease in the future, their immune system will recognize it and immediately fight it.

Sub Title:

Passive immunity enhanced with monoclonal antibody therapy

References:

Alzheimer’s Disease Antibody Treatment

2022 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures

Image:

Age Groups:

65 and Over

Google News Keywords:

Alzheimers, antibody

Featured:

Fact checked:

Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 08:45

Image Caption:

U.S. CDC dementia passive immunity

Alzheimer’s Patient’s Tau Levels Are Indications of Future Brain Degeneration

Don Hackett — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 16:26:39 +0000

Reviewer:

Prospective longitudinal atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease correlates with the intensity and topography of baseline tau-PET

A new study by scientists at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center found brain imaging of pathological tau-protein “tangles” reliably predict the location of future brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s patients, a year or more in advance.

According to this study published on January 1, 2020, in contrast, the location of amyloid “plaques,” which have been the focus of Alzheimer’s research and drug development for decades, was found to be of little utility in predicting how damage would unfold as the disease progressed.

This study’s results are published in Science Translational Medicine, support researchers’ growing recognition that tau drives brain degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease more directly than amyloid protein.

Furthermore, this finding demonstrates the potential of recently developed tau-based PET (positron emission tomography) brain imaging technology to accelerate Alzheimer’s clinical trials and improve individualized patient care.

“The match between the spread of tau and what happened to the brain in the following year was really striking,” said neurologist Gil Rabinovici, M.D., the Edward Fein and Pearl Landrith Distinguished Professor in Memory and Aging and leader of the PET imaging program at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, in a press release.

“Tau PET imaging predicted not only how much atrophy we would see, but also where it would happen. These predictions were much more powerful than anything we’ve been able to do with other imaging tools, and add to evidence that tau is a major driver of the disease.”

Recent Alzheimer’s disease vaccine news

Alzheimer’s researchers have long debated the relative importance of amyloid plaques and tau tangles — two kinds of misfolded protein clusters seen in postmortem studies of patients’ brains, both first identified by Alois Alzheimer in the early 20th century.

For decades, the “amyloid camp” has dominated, leading to multiple high-profile efforts to slow Alzheimer’s with amyloid-targeting drugs, all with disappointing or mixed results.

Tau PET brain scans (green) in early clinical-stage Alzheimer’s patients accurately predict the location of brain atrophy measured by MRI 1–2 years later (magenta).

Amyloid PET imaging (blue) does not predict the location of either tau or future brain atrophy.

Many researchers are now taking a second look at tau protein, once dismissed as simply a “tombstone” marking dying cells, and investigating whether tau may, in fact, be an important biological driver of the disease.

In contrast to amyloid, which accumulates widely across the brain, sometimes even in people with no symptoms, autopsies of Alzheimer’s patients have revealed that tau is concentrated precisely where brain atrophy is most severe, and in locations that help explain differences in patients’ symptoms.

“No one doubts that amyloid plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease, but more and more tau findings are beginning to shift how people think about what is actually driving the disease,” explained Renaud La Joie, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in Rabinovici’s In Vivo Molecular Neuroimaging Lab, and lead author of the new study.

“Still, just looking at postmortem brain tissue, it has been hard to prove that tau tangles cause brain degeneration and not the other way around. One of our group’s key goals has been to develop non-invasive brain imaging tools that would let us see whether the location of tau buildup early in the disease predicts later brain degeneration.”

Tau PET Scans Predict Locations of Future Brain Atrophy in Individual Patients

Despite early misgivings that tau might be impossible to measure in the living brain, scientists recently developed an injectable molecule called flortaucipir — currently under review by the FDA — which binds to misfolded tau in the brain and emits a mild radioactive signal that can be picked up by PET scans.

Rabinovici and collaborator William Jagust, M.D., of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have been among the first to adopt tau PET imaging to study the distribution of tau tangles in the normal aging brain and in a smaller cross-sectional study of Alzheimer’s patients.

Their new study represents the first attempt to test whether tau levels in Alzheimer’s patients can predict future brain degeneration.

La Joie recruited 32 participants with early clinical-stage Alzheimer’s disease through the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, all of whom received PET scans using 2 different tracers to measure levels of amyloid protein and tau protein in their brains.

The study participants also received MRI scans to measure their brain’s structural integrity, both at the start of the study and again in follow-up visits 1 to 2 years later.

The researchers found that overall tau levels in participants’ brains at the start of the study predicted how much degeneration would occur by the time of their follow up visit (on average 15 months later).

Moreover, local patterns of tau buildup predicted subsequent atrophy in the same locations with more than 40 percent accuracy. In contrast, baseline amyloid-PET scans correctly predicted only 3 percent of future brain degeneration.

“Seeing that tau buildup predicts where degeneration will occur supports our hypothesis that tau is a key driver of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease,” La Joie said.

Notably, PET scans revealed that younger study participants had higher overall levels of tau in their brains, as well as a stronger link between baseline tau and subsequent brain atrophy, compared to older participants.

This suggests that other factors — likely other abnormal proteins or vascular injuries — may play a larger role in late-onset Alzheimer’s, the researchers say.

The results add to hopes that tau-targeting drugs currently under study at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and elsewhere may provide clinical benefits to patients by blocking this key driver of neurodegeneration in the disease.

At the same time, the ability to use tau PET to predict later brain degeneration could enable more personalized dementia care and speed ongoing clinical trials, the authors say.

“One of the first things people want to know when they hear a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is simply what the future holds for themselves or their loved ones. Will it be a long fading of memory, or a quick decline into dementia? How long will the patient be able to live independently? Will they lose the ability to speak or get around on their own? These are questions we can’t currently answer, except in the most general terms,” Rabinovici said.

“Now, for the first time, this tool could let us give patients a sense of what to expect by revealing the biological process underlying their disease.”

Rabinovici and his team also anticipate that the ability to predict future brain atrophy based on tau PET imaging will allow Alzheimer’s clinical trials to quickly assess whether an experimental treatment can alter the specific trajectory predicted for an individual patient, which is currently impossible due to the wide variability in how the disease progresses from individual to individual.

Such insights could make it possible to adjust dosage or switch to a different experimental compound if the first treatment is not affecting tau levels or altering a patient’s predicted trajectory of brain atrophy.

“Tau PET could be an extremely valuable precision medicine tool for future clinical trials,” Rabinovici said.

“The ability to sensitively track tau accumulation in living patients would for the first time let clinical researchers seek out treatments that can slow down or even prevent the specific pattern of brain atrophy predicted for each patient.”

Authors: La Joie is the corresponding author on the study; Rabinovici is the senior author. Additional authors on the study are Adrienne V. Visani, Jesse A. Brown, Viktoriya Bourakova, Jungho Cha, Kiran Chaudhary, Lauren Edwards, Leonardo Iaccarino, Orit Lesman-Segev, Zachary Miller, David C. Perry, Julie Pham, Julio C. Rojas, Howard J. Rosen, William W. Seeley, Richard M. Tsai, and Bruce L. Miller, all of UCSF; Suzanne L. Baker, Mustafa Janabi, and James P. O’Neil, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); and Jagust, of LBNL and UC Berkeley.

Funding: The study was supported by the Alzheimer’s Association (AARF-16-443577), the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the US National Institutes of Health (R01-AG045611, P50-AG023501, P01-AG19724), the Tau Consortium, and an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center of California grant (04-33516) from the California Department of Health Services.

Disclosures: Rabinovici receives research support from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, GE Healthcare, and Life Molecular Imaging, and has received consulting fees or speaking honoraria from Axon Neurosciences, Roche, Eisai, Genentech, Merck. La Joie reports no conflicts of interest. See study online for a full list of conflict of interest disclosures.

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

Alzheimer’s disease news published by Precision Vaccinations

Sub Title:

Tau PET could be an extremely valuable precision medicine tool for future clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease

References:

Alzheimer ‘Tau’ Protein Far Surpasses Amyloid in Predicting Toll on Brain Tissue

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, Alzheimer’s disease,

Featured:

Old Tuberculosis Vaccine May Slow Alzheimer’s Progression

Don Hackett — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 18:09:28 +0000

Reviewer:

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy lowers the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in bladder cancer patients

According to a recent study, bladder cancer patients treated with an old tuberculosis vaccine were significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at any age, than patients who were not so treated.

This cancer study’s finding suggests that treating people with the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) might also reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s in the general population.

This is potentially important news, since Alzheimer's affects 10 percent of seniors older than 65 years of age.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment.

It’s important to note that these researchers have not developed a vaccine that prevents Alzheimer’s, nor is there a cure available today.

This research team headed by Hervé Bercovier, Charles Greenblatt and Benjamin Klein at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)’s Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, announced in a press release published on December 23, 2019, “There’s data reaching back to the 1960s that shows that countries treating bladder cancer patients with the BCG vaccine had a lower prevalence of AD, but it hadn’t been properly analyzed.”

In this study, these researchers followed 1,371 bladder cancer patients with an average patient age of 68. During follow-up visits, 65 cancer patients had developed Alzheimer’s.

Those cancer patients who had not received BCG as part of their treatment had a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s (8.9%) than did BCG-treated patients (2.4%).

Furthermore, when compared with the general population, people who had never been treated with BCG had a 4-fold higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s than did those who were treated with the BCG vaccine.

Dr. Bercovier said in the press release, “our study is an important step towards understanding the ways in which our immune system is a major player in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s and how the BCG vaccine, which modulates the immune system, may serve as an effective preventative treatment to this crippling condition.”

This study’s conclusion includes these statements:

‘This is only a single observation found retrospectively in a unique population. There is, however, a plausible biological explanation for this phenomenon and supporting findings are found in epidemiological studies and in an animal model of AD.’

‘We hope that the results presented here will stimulate studies in other populations and further work on the mechanism of BCG protection will be done. A prospective BCG vaccination study of elderly subjects can then be envisioned with different doses of BCG and a continuous follow-up of cognitive capacities.’

AD is marked by three major pathological features: accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and sustained innate neuroinflammation. Since late 1980, Aβ has been the target of most vaccine clinical trials.

“Setbacks in Alzheimer’s research demand new strategies, not surrender” is the title of a 2018 editorial published in PLOS Medicine.

The BCG vaccine is an attenuated, live culture preparation of the Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin strain of Mycobacterium bovis. The TICE strain used in this BCG vaccine preparation was developed at the University of Illinois from a strain originated at the Pasteur Institute.

BCG is used in many countries with a high prevalence of TB to prevent childhood tuberculous, meningitis and miliary disease.

However, BCG is not generally recommended for use in the USA because of the low risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the variable effectiveness of the vaccine against adult pulmonary TB, and the vaccine’s potential interference with tuberculin skin test reactivity.

The BCG vaccine should be considered only for very select persons who meet specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC says ‘BCG vaccination should only be considered for children who have a negative TB test and who are continually exposed, and cannot be separated from adults who are untreated or ineffectively treated for TB disease, and the child cannot be given long-term primary preventive treatment for TB infection, or have TB disease caused by strains resistant to isoniazid and rifampin.

However, a recent study also found the BCG vaccine was associated with a reduced rate of lung cancer.

Recent BCG vaccine news

Study fundings: Alzheimer’s Germ Quest, Inc. is a privately held company, founded in 2017, and controlled by Dr. Leslie Norins and his wife, Rainey. The funder had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: Alzheimer’s Germ Quest, Inc. provided a small grant to support this study.

The CDC suggests all patients discuss their vaccination options and questions with a healthcare provider.

Alzheimer’s disease vaccine news published by Precision Vaccinations.

Sub Title:

BCG vaccination may inhibit dementia severity

References:

HUJI scientists may have found an effective treatment to prevent Alzheimer’s

CDC: Tuberculosis (TB) Vaccine

CDC: Alzheimer's Disease and Healthy Aging

Immunization with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) alleviates neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice

Interferons: A molecular switch between damage and repair in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, bcg vaccine and bladder cancer, bladder cancer vaccine, Alzheimer’s disease treatment

GoodRx Vaccine:

Bacille Calmette-Guerin

Featured:

Alzheimer's Disease Therapy Seeks FDA Approval

Don Hackett — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 18:26:05 +0000

Reviewer:

BIOGEN PLANS REGULATORY FILING FOR ADUCANUMAB IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE BASED ON NEW ANALYSIS OF LARGER DATASET FROM PHASE 3 STUDY

An analysis of larger datasets showed that Aducanumab reduced the clinical decline in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease as measured by the pre-specified primary and secondary endpoints, announced Biogen and Eisai Co. in a press release.

This is important news since there is currently no known cure for Alzheimer’s disease, which is the 6th leading cause of death among US adults.

Aducanumab is an investigational human monoclonal antibody studied for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease, which is a leading cause of dementia.

Additionally, Biogen and Eisai announced plans to pursue regulatory approval for aducanumab, an investigational treatment for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

If approved, aducanumab would become the first therapy to reduce the clinical decline of AD and would also be the first therapy to demonstrate that removing amyloid-beta resulted in better clinical outcomes.

The decision to file is based on a new analysis, conducted by Biogen in consultation with the FDA, of a larger dataset from the Phase 3 clinical studies that were discontinued in March 2019 following a futility analysis.

This new analysis shows that aducanumab is pharmacologically and clinically active as determined by dose-dependent effects in reducing brain amyloid and in reducing clinical decline as assessed by the pre-specified primary endpoint Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB).

Michel Vounatsos, Chief Executive Officer at Biogen, said in this press release, “We are hopeful about the prospect of offering patients the first therapy to reduce the clinical decline of AD and the potential implication of these results for similar approaches targeting amyloid-beta.”

Based on discussions with the FDA, the Company plans to file a Biologics License Application (BLA) in early 2020 and will continue dialogue with regulatory authorities in international markets including Europe and Japan.

The BLA submission will include data from the Phase 1/1b studies as well as the complete set of data from the Phase 3 studies.

The Company aims to offer access to aducanumab to eligible patients previously enrolled in the Phase 3 studies, the long-term extension study for the Phase 1b PRIME study, and the EVOLVE safety study.

Biogen will work towards this goal with regulatory authorities and principal investigators with a sense of urgency.

EMERGE and ENGAGE were Phase 3 multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group studies designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of aducanumab.

Although scientists are learning more every day they still do not know what causes Alzheimer’s disease. There probably is not one single cause, but several factors that affect each person differently says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

AD is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment.

Death rates for Alzheimer’s disease are increasing, unlike heart disease and cancer death rates that are on the decline.

Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, has been shown to be under-reported in death certificates and therefore the proportion of older people who die from Alzheimer’s may be considerably higher, says the CDC.

Since October 2017 Biogen and Eisai have collaborated on the development and commercialization of aducanumab globally.

Biogen discovers, develops, and delivers worldwide innovative therapies for people living with serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases as well as related therapeutic adjacencies. Visit BioGen to learn more.

Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. Visit Eisai for more information.

Alzheimer’s disease news published by Precision Vaccinations

Sub Title:

Biogen aducanumab found pharmacologically and clinically active as determined by dose-dependent effects in reducing brain amyloid

References:

Multiple Dose Study of Aducanumab (BIIB037) (Recombinant, Fully Human Anti-Aβ IgG1 mAb) in Participants With Prodromal

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, alzheimers disease, ad vaccines, dementia vaccine, alzheimer's disease vaccine

Featured:

Alzheimer's Disease Vaccine Candidate Shows Potential in Pre-Clinical Studies

Don Hackett — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:45:38 +0000

Reviewer:

John Paul Sanchez, PharmD

A California based company announces that researchers at The Institute for Molecular Medicine (IMM), along with collaborators at the University of California at Irvine, have created a vaccine candidate targeting the pathological Tau protein, termed AV-1980R/A.

This protein is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but not the normal Tau protein, said these researchers in an October 29, 2019, press release.

Data from various studies have suggested that Tau pathology correlates with the degree of dementia in AD. Thus, the development of a safe and effective preventive immunotherapy targeting pathological Tau may be central to treating AD.

This preventive vaccine candidate, is to be commercialized by Capo Therapeutics, was reported to generate very high titers of antibodies, reduces Tau aggregate from the brains of mice bred to have tauopathy, and improves behavioral and motor defects in a mouse model of AD.

These researchers said ‘no other pre-clinical studies have achieved such levels of effective antibody titers.’

This is important news since by the time clinical symptoms of AD manifest in humans, there is already substantial tau pathology in the brain.

Moreover, there is not a commercially available, preventive vaccine for AD.

AD is the most common cause of dementia, which is a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by progressive deterioration of the brain as neurons are destroyed.

About 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, with the number expected to more than double by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Armine Hovakimyan, Associate Professor at IMM and the lead author said in a press release, "For a vaccine to be effective, it has to induce therapeutically potent levels of antibodies which our anti-Tau vaccine achieved.”

“Importantly, MultiTEP platform-based vaccines do not induce potentially harmful autoreactive T helper cell responses while still generating antibodies that bind strongly to pathological forms of Tau in human brain tissue from AD cases."

Dr. Harry Lander, CEO of Capo Therapeutics said, "The MultiTEP technology is a third-generation platform technology that generates very high levels of antibodies; the antibodies are specific to the antigen of interest and there are none detectable to the carrier, does not activate harmful auto-reactive T cells and activates memory T cells.”

“We believe that there is no other active vaccine platform that can achieve these four key elements and are excited about future clinical trials."

Alzheimer's vaccine news

IMM is a non-profit organization with the goal of understanding, preventing and curing catastrophic human chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer, fatigue illness, etc. These goals are accomplished through innovative basic and translational research programs.

Capo Therapeutics, Inc. is focused on using the MultiTEP platform to bring active vaccination strategies for multiple neurological disorders into the clinic, in particular, Alzheimer's Disease and other Tauopathies as well as Parkinson's Disease.

Alzheimer’s vaccine news published by PrecisionVaccinations.com.

Sub Title:

AV-1980R/A vaccine candidate targets the pathological Tau protein

References:

A MultiTEP platform-based epitope vaccine targeting the phosphatase activating domain (PAD) of tau: therapeutic efficacy in PS19

Unique Alzheimer's Disease Tau Vaccine Shows Great Potential in Pre-Clinical Studies

Vaccine Therapies for Debilitating Diseases of the Brain

MultiTEP platform-based DNA epitope vaccine targeting N-terminus of tau induces strong immune responses and reduces tau patholog

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, Alzheimer’s vaccine, Alzheimer’s disease, tau immunotherapy, dementia,

Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy Displays Robust Immune Response

Don Hackett — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 22:02:10 +0000

Reviewer:

Axon Announces Positive Results From Phase II ADAMANT Trial for AADvac1 in Alzheimer's Disease

A London-based biotech company announced the results of the Phase II trial for AADvac1, its first-in-class vaccine to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's Disease.

This vaccine is an immunotherapy, which harnesses the body's immune system to produce specific antibodies, said AXON Neuroscience SE in a September 9, 2019, press release.

"By working on a vaccine for Alzheimer's Disease, it gives the families hope to have their loved ones in the right mindset for a longer period of time," said Nine Sprague, pharmacy intern for Brookshire's Grocery Company.

In this 24-month Phase II trial, AADvac1 showed to be highly effective in inducing a robust immune response, with 98.2 percent of the 196 patients generating antibodies against pathological tau.

The trial was designed as a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled with the primary objective of ‘safety’, and secondary objectives to evaluate immunogenicity, efficacy on clinical outcomes and key biomarkers.

For the primary endpoint, the ADAMANT trial showed that AADvac1 has proven to be safe and well-tolerated, with no difference in the incidence and nature of adverse events between the treatment and placebo groups. No other safety signals emerged from any other safety or medical assessments.

This finding is consistent with previous observations in the Phase I trial and support excellent immunogenicity in this population.

A highly statistically significant impact was seen on neurodegeneration and neuronal loss, as measured in blood by Neurofilament Light Chain ("NfL").

It showed a marked slow-down of the expected increase of NfL in the patients treated with AADvac1, demonstrating a 12.6 percent change from baseline over 2 years versus 27.7 percent for patients on placebo.

This indicates that AADvac1 slows the progression of the neurodegenerative process to levels that are more typically seen in healthy individuals.

NfL is a biomarker to track and monitor effects on neurodegeneration in patients with Alzheimer's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurological disorders.

Compelling trends were observed in the reduction of 3 separate cerebrospinal fluid ("CSF") Alzheimer's Disease-specific biomarkers in treated patients, including 2 variants of pathological tau (phospho-Tau181 and phospho-Tau217).

Despite a smaller sample size of patients providing required lumbar punctures, the shown effect sizes were large to moderate.

This strongly suggests that AADvac1 is successful in slowing the progression of tau pathology.

Positive signals for cognitive endpoints were observed among younger populations in the Phase II trial. These were showed on clinical outcome measure CDR-SB and consistently further across a wide range of additional endpoints including MMSE, ADCS-MCI-ADL, MRI brain volumetry and DTI.

Based on the extensive learnings and positive data generated by the Phase II ADAMANT trial, Axon is moving ahead with plans for the upcoming clinical development.

Michal Fresser, CEO of Axon Neuroscience, said in this press release, "Our vaccine is the first to solely target pathological tau proteins, which drive the cognitive decline and memory loss seen in Alzheimer's.”

“These results, which strongly reveal a disease-modifying effect on the disease, underpin our confidence to take the next steps in bringing life-changing treatment to patients as soon as possible."

Axon Neuroscience was founded in 1999 and is now the single biggest team in the world dedicated exclusively to tau research in relation to treating Alzheimer's Disease, with over 60 scientists and 15 senior scientific leaders.

Published by Precision Vaccinations

Sub Title:

Axon AADvac1 Alzheimer's disease vaccine treatment slows the progression of the neurodegenerative process

References:

24 Months Safety and Efficacy Study of AADvac1 in Patients With Mild Alzheimer's Disease (ADAMANT)

AADVAC1, AN ACTIVE IMMUNOTHERAPY FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NON ALZHEIMER TAUOPATHIES: AN OVERVIEW OF PRECLINICAL AND CLINICAL

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, Alzheimer's Disease, vaccine for alzheimer's patients

Alzheimer’s Disease Vaccine Candidate Launches Phase 1b/2a Study

Don Hackett — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 14:36:40 +0000

Reviewer:

AC Immune Initiates Ph1b/2a Study of Anti-Phospho-Tau Vaccine in Alzheimer’s Disease

A Swiss-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company announced the initiation of a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial to evaluate ACI-35.030, an anti-phospho-Tau (anti-pTau) vaccine.

The ACI-35.030 vaccine candidate targets pathological Tau and is intended as a disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other Tauopathies.

By targeting specific pathological forms of Tau protein, immunization with anti-Tau vaccines has become an important strategy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other Tauopathies because it has the potential to prevent and reduce the development and spread of Tau pathology throughout the brain.

This Phase 1b/2a trial is a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study with a primary objective to assess the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of different doses of ACI-35.030 in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.

Secondary study objectives will assess additional immunogenicity parameters, while exploratory endpoints will include notable biomarkers of progression of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as clinical assessments.

Prof. Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune SA, commented in a press release on August 1, 2019, “Targeting phospho-Tau is a very promising approach for treating and preventing this debilitating disease and as such, it is a key part of AC Immune’s Roadmap to Successful Therapies for Neurodegenerative Diseases.”

AC Immune’s two proprietary technology platforms, SupraAntigen and Morphomer, have generated anti-Tau therapies and diagnostics including four in clinical development.

ACI-35.030 is a potent liposomal anti-pTau active investigational vaccine designed to elicit antibodies against extracellular phosphorylated pathological Tau protein, in order to prevent and reduce the spread and development of Tau pathology within the brain.

It builds on the success of AC Immune’s ACI-35 vaccine, which has demonstrated an early target-specific antibody response against pTau after the first injection in the vast majority of patients in a Phase 1b study in mild-to-moderate AD.

In pre-clinical studies, ACI-35.030 has shown that it retains the excellent non-clinical safety profile and the highly specific antibody response against pathological Tau observed in ACI-35 while demonstrating an enhanced and more homogeneous antibody response with a significant, long-lasting boosting effect.

Alzheimer's disease vaccine news

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities, and accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases, says Alzheimers.com.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by progressive deterioration of the brain as neurons are destroyed.

About 5.7 million Americans have the fatal disease, with the number expected to more than double by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No effective cure currently exists, though several antibody and other therapies are being researched and tested in clinical trials to target amyloid plaques and tau tangles – both hallmarks of the disease.

The healthy human brain contains tens of billions of neurons—specialized cells that process and transmits information via electrical and chemical signals. They send messages between different parts of the brain, and from the brain to the muscles and organs of the body, says the NIH.

Alzheimer’s disease disrupts this communication among neurons, resulting in loss of function and cell death.

AC Immune SA is a Nasdaq-listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which aims to become a global leader in precision medicine for neurodegenerative diseases.

Sub Title:

AC Immune’s ACI-35.030 vaccine targets pathological Tau and is intended as a disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease

References:

CDC: What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, Alzheimer's vaccine, dementia vacine, Alzheimer's, AC immne sa, new Alzheimer's vaccine

Featured:

Alzheimer’s Vaccine Candidate Shows Positive Phase 2a Results

Don Hackett — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:48:10 +0000

Reviewer:

John Paul Sanchez, PharmD

An Extension Study of V203-AD Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of UB-311

United Neuroscience (UNS) announced positive top-line results from its Phase 2a clinical study of UB-311, a novel synthetic peptide vaccine candidate targeting beta amyloid (Aβ) in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

This is important news since active vaccination of human individuals against Aβ has yet to be safely and effectively achieved.

The Phase 2a double blinded, placebo-controlled study evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of prolonged dosing with 2 different dosing regimens of the Alzheimer’s vaccine candidate showed that 96 percent of patients responded positively, without serious side effects.

All secondary endpoints - including Amyloid PET burden, CDR-SB, ADCS-ADL, ADAS-Cog, and MMSE - pointed directionally in favor of UB-311, though not statistically significant with the study sample size.

UB-311 is a novel UBITh™ active vaccine targeting the N-terminus of Aβ peptides and is designed to induce high B-cell specific responses while avoiding T-cell inflammation.

"The positive results show that we can safely raise and maintain anti-Aβ antibody titers in a predictable and sustained manner," said Peter Powchik, Executive Vice President of Research and Development at UNS.

"High response rates, reproducibility of response and generation of antibodies directed to relevant toxic protein species are key elements of an effective therapeutic vaccine for neurodegenerative conditions.”

The subjects from the completed Phase 2a study will roll over into a long-term extension study and will be offered continued treatment with UB-311.

In the Phase I study, UB-311 vaccination safely elevated anti-Aβ antibodies in all patients with a suggestion of cognitive stabilization.

United Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biotech company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with operations in Taiwan and the United States. For more information please visit United Neuroscience.

Recent Alzheimer's disease news articles:

Sub Title:

United Neuroscience Alzheimer's vaccine UB-311 produced positive results for 96 percent of phase 2b study participants

References:

United Neuroscience Announces Positive Top-Line Results from Phase 2a Clinical Study of UB-311 Vaccine in Patients with Alzheime

United Neuroscience Presents Data for Phase 2 Active Vaccine Program UB-311 at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease 2017 M

UB-311, a novel UBITh® amyloid β peptide vaccine for mild Alzheimer's disease

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, Alzheimer's, ad, memory, old age

Featured:

Alzheimer’s Vaccine Candidate Produced Positive Data in a Mice Study

Don Hackett — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 12:51:20 +0000

Reviewer:

DNA vaccine reduces both toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer’s

An experimental Alzheimer's disease vaccine candidate may be able to reduce dementia cases in half and delay effects of the degenerative brain disease by 5 years.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas said in a press release that ‘this experimental vaccine delivered to the skin prompts an immune response that reduces the buildup of harmful tau and beta-amyloid proteins – without triggering severe brain swelling.

This non-human study consisted of four cohorts between 15 and 24 mice each and showed the vaccine prompted a 40 percent reduction in beta-amyloid, and up to a 50 percent reduction in tau, with no adverse immune response.

“This study is the culmination of a decade of research that has repeatedly demonstrated that this vaccine can effectively and safely target in animal models what we think may cause Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Roger Rosenberg, founding Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at UT Southwestern.

This vaccine strategy is on a shortlist of promising antibody treatments aimed at protecting against both types of proteins that kill brain cells as they spread in deadly plaques and tangles on the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.

“I believe we’re getting close to testing this therapy in people,” said Dr. Rosenberg.

Dr. Rosenberg’s lab has shown similar immune responses in rabbit and monkey studies.

Dr. Rosenberg’s team predicts that if amyloid and tau are indeed the cause of Alzheimer’s disease, achieving these reductions in humans could have major therapeutic value.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by progressive deterioration of the brain as neurons are destroyed.

About 5.7 million Americans have the fatal disease, with the number expected to more than double by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No effective treatment currently exists, though several antibody and other therapies are being researched and tested in clinical trials to target amyloid plaques and tau tangles – both hallmarks of the disease.

This study is the latest contribution to decades of research focusing on clearing toxic proteins in hopes of preventing or slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease disrupts this communication among neurons, resulting in loss of function and cell death.

Dr. Rosenberg is a Professor of Physiology and Neurology & Neurotherapeutics. He holds the Abe (Brunky), Morris and William Zale Distinguished Chair in Neurology.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health; the Zale Foundation; the Rudman Foundation; the Presbyterian Village North Foundation; Freiberger, Losinger, and Denker Family Funds; Triumph Over Alzheimer’s; and AWARE.

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education.

The Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases was created in 2014 to find therapies to cure or halt the progression of dementia and related disorders. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the single largest health threat to our aging population and demands a research effort commensurate with this problem.

Sub Title:

DNA vaccine reduces both harmful proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease

References:

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

What Is Alzheimer's?

TAU-AMYLOID LINK POINTS TO NEW ALZHEIMER’S TARGET

Tau protein—not amyloid—may be key driver of Alzheimer’s symptoms

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, aging, old, brain, dementia, Alzheimer’s

Featured:

Could HSV1 Vaccination Prevent Dementia?

Don Hackett — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 12:57:37 +0000

Reviewer:

John Paul Sanchez, PharmD

Shane Kyral, PharmD

Academic support is increasing for the theory that herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), when found in the brains of certain people, is a major risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) later in life.

Professor Ruth Itzhaki's new research presents evidence that the virus responsible for common cold sores can also cause Alzheimer's disease.

HSV-1 causes "cold sores" on the mouth, and up to 80 percent of the population has this virus, says Herpes.org.

Most people with herpes will not have symptoms and therefore will not be aware they have it.

And, Dr. Itzhaki’s new data shows antiviral drugs could drastically reduce the risk of senile dementia in patients with severe herpes infections.

"HSV1 could account for 50% or more of Alzheimer's disease cases," says Dr. Itzhaki in a press release.

Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities, and accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases, says Alzheimers.com.

The greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer’s is increasing age.

But, approximately 200,000 Americans under the age of 65 have early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Itzhaki, MSc, Ph.D., MA is a professor and faculty member of the department of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester. Dr. Itzhaki has shown previously that cold sores occur more frequently in carriers of APOE-ε4 - a gene variant that confers an increased risk of Alzheimer's.

"Our theory is that in APOE-ε4 carriers, reactivation is more frequent or more harmful in HSV1-infected brain cells, which as a result accumulate damage that culminates in the development of Alzheimer's."

Few countries collect the population data required to test Dr. Itzhaki’s theory.

In Taiwan, 99.9% of the population is enrolled in a National Health Insurance Research Database, which is being extensively mined for information on microbial infections and disease.

In 2017-2018 three studies were published describing Taiwanese data on the development of senile dementia - of which Alzheimer's is the main cause - and the treatment of patients with marked overt signs of infection with HSV or varicella-zoster virus (VZV, the chickenpox virus).

"The striking results include evidence that the risk of senile dementia is much greater in those who are infected with HSV, and that anti-herpes antiviral treatment causes a dramatic decrease in the number of those subjects severely affected by HSV1 who later develop dementia."

Previous findings from Dr. Itzhaki's own research group provide a mechanistic link which supports these epidemiological findings.

They found that HSV1 causes protein deposits characteristic of Alzheimer's: 'plaques' between neurons, and 'tangles' inside of them.

"Viral DNA is located very specifically within plaques in postmortem brain tissue from Alzheimer's sufferers. The main proteins of both plaques and tangles accumulate also in HSV1-infected cell cultures - and antiviral drugs can prevent this."

"It should be stressed that the results of these Taiwanese studies apply only to severe HSV1 or Varicella zoster virus infections, which are rare," admits Dr. Itzhaki.

"Ideally, we would study dementia rates amongst people who have suffered mild HSV1 infection, including herpes labialis or mild genital herpes, but these are far less likely to be documented."

Although further work is needed to confirm and define a causal link between HSV1 infection and Alzheimer's, Itzhaki is enthusiastic about the treatment prospects.

"Considering that over 120 publications strongly support an HSV1 role in Alzheimer's, these Taiwan findings greatly justify the usage of antiherpes antivirals - which are safe and well-tolerated - to treat Alzheimer's disease."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved various medicines that are direct-acting, small molecules that inhibit a key enzymatic step in the herpes replication cycle.

There are 3 medicines taken as a pill, that are commonly used to treat HSV-2:

Acyclovir (Zovirax),
famciclovir (Famvir),
valacyclovir (Valtrex)

If patients develop resistance to current therapies, they have limited options for the rest of their life.

Additionally, intravenous acyclovir therapy should be provided for patients who have severe HSV disease or complications that necessitate hospitalization, says the FDA.

"They also incentivize the development of an HSV1 vaccine, which would likely be the most effective treatment," said Dr. Itzhaki.

This study published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience raises the prospect of a simple, effective preventive treatment for one of humanity's costliest mental disorders.

Sub Title:

Herpes antiviral treatment causes a dramatic decrease in number of people severely affected by HSV1 who later develop dementia

References:

Does herpes cause Alzheimer's?

What Is Alzheimer's?

Corroboration of a Major Role for Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 in Alzheimer’s Disease

Herpes simplex virus type 1 and Alzheimer’s disease: possible mechanisms and signposts

Genital HSV Infections

Ocular Herpes Can Be Treated, But Not Prevented With a Vaccine

Which HSV-2 Antiviral Works Best?

Image:

Age Groups:

Google News Keywords:

health, vaccines, vaccinations, herpes, hsv 1, hsv 2, alzheimer's

Featured:

Alzheimer’s and Down Syndrome Vaccine Candidate Advances

Don Hackett — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 16:42:56 +0000

Reviewer: