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

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."

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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.