- Finding an Alzheimer’s disease treatment has proved challenging and controversial.
- A vaccine has been developed for a new target, a protein found in aging brain cells and blood vessels.
- Trialed in mice, it improves behavior and reduces levels of an amyloid-beta protein precursor.
- However, the question of what molecules should be targeted in Alzheimer’s treatment research remains.
Alzheimer’s disease treatment research has largely focused on preventing the buildup of amyloid beta protein plaques in the brain, which are distinctive features of the disease. Now, researchers have developed a new vaccine using a mouse model, which targets a different protein found in aging brain cells and blood vessels.
The origins of the amyloid beta model and its use as a treatment target have been controversial in recent years. For example, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted
In July 2022, controversy over the development of drug treatments for Alzheimer’s disease peaked following an investigation published in Science in July 2022 that alleged some images had been manipulated in the highly influential paper published in
This explosive year for Alzheimer’s science was perhaps not surprising when considering that finding a drug target for Alzheimer’s disease is potentially big business for pharmaceutical companies. There are currently 6 million cases in the United States alone, expected to rise to 13 million by 2050, and that is a lot of potential patients.
Dr. Santosh Kesari, a neurologist at Providence Saint…
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