Japanese researchers have announced the formulation of a gene-based vaccine for treating Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience conducted a study in which they used preventive and therapeutic regimens to analyze the efficacy of the vaccine in mice. In the preventive regimen, the mice were vaccinated before the plaques were developed while in the therapeutic regimen, the mice were injected with the vaccine six months after the formation of the plaques. The preventive section of the study showed that at the age of seven months, the vaccinated mice had 15.5 per cent less plaque accumulation and at the age of 18 months, they had 38.5 per cent less accumulation when compared to unvaccinated mice. The therapeutic part of the study showed that the vaccinated mice had 40 to 50 per cent less plaque accumulation when compared to the unvaccinated mice. The study findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The news of the vaccine is being received with caution due to the negative fallouts of a previous vaccine. In 2002, the human trial of a peptide vaccination for Alzheimer’s disease was halted because a significant number of participants began to develop encephalitis. However, the Japanese researchers believe that in contrast to peptide vaccines, DNA vaccines do not contain prepared antibodies and so their long-term administration did not cause encephalitis. The formulation of the vaccine is a possible breakthrough in the fight against the debilitating disease.

The investigators now want to test the vaccine on aged monkeys. If the results are satisfactory, they will go for clinical trials.