Key points from article :
Novel vaccine to eliminate senescent cells expressing senescence-associated glycoprotein (SAGP) to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
Tested on mouse model that mimics a human brain and simulates amyloid-beta-induced Alzheimer’s disease pathology.
Mice were treated with a control vaccine or the SAGP vaccine at two and four months old.
Several inflammatory biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease were also reduced.
Vaccine significantly reduced amyloid deposits in the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for language processing, attention and problem solving.
Reduction in inflammatory biomarkers was seen, implying that inflammation in the brain improved in response to the SAGP vaccine.
SAGP-vaccinated mice tended to behave like normal healthy mice and exhibited more awareness of their surroundings.
“Vaccine could target activated microglia and remove these toxic cells, ultimately repairing the deficits in behavior suffered in Alzheimer’s disease,” - lead study author Chieh-Lun Hsiao.
"The future challenge will be to achieve similar results in humans.”
Preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences.
