Health and Welbeing
Swedish scientists close to designing a perfect Vaccine for Alzheimer's
Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Swedish scientists are one step closer to designing a breakthrough that
could provide cure for severe dementia, Alzheimer's disease. It is
shown in a results of a Swedish study published in the medical journal
The Lancet Neuology today.
58 patients who have been working with the scientists have all shown
signs of mild to moderate form of the disease and 80 percent of them
showed good results from the vaccine being administered.
By injecting a little of the substance of beta amyloid, which is found
in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, researchers found that the
immune system develops antibodies to the substance, which then goes
through the bloodstream into the brain and clears away the offending
agent.
“Our results show that the new vaccine could be a successful method of
treating Alzheimer's in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's,” said
Bengt Winblad, Professor at Karolinska Institute in Huddinge, to
Swedish television.
About 120 000 Swedes are suffering from Alzheimer's and there is
currently no cure for the most common dementia. The medicines used now
can only alleviate symptoms, but now the study shows a very good result
with a new vaccine.
The study has been carried out by Bengt Winblad, and several of the
nation's leading brain researchers. Unlike a previous attempt to
vaccination, ten years ago in the U.S. and Europe, which was
discontinued because of severe, side effects and deaths, so has this
attempt been successful. The vaccine has been modified and is no longer
harmful, according to Professor Bengt Winblad.
Now there should be more and larger studies, both in and outside
Sweden, before the vaccine can hopefully be approved and could be in
used within the period of about five years. In the long run it may also
be necessary to vaccinate people at risk for developing Alzheimer's.
By Scancomark.se Team
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