Parkinson's Prevention May Include Tetanus Vaccination

While no approved vaccines target Parkenson's disease (PD), several clinical pathways are being investigated with innovative technologies in 2024. 

Different monoclonal antibodies have been investigated as passive immunization, and novel active immunization modalities targeting PD are being studied.

Recently, the findings of a non-peer-reviewed study reveal a significant reduction in PD occurrence following anti-tetanus vaccination, with a time-dependent association between the elapsed time since vaccination and the rate and progression of PD.

A large-scale observational study in Leumit Health Services in Israel selected 1,446 patients who received a PD diagnosis between the ages of 45 and 75,

This study found that 1.6% of those with PD had received the tetanus vaccine before their diagnosis, compared with 3.2% of those without. And no study participant developed PD within two years of being immunized.

This study's findings suggest that vaccination against tetanus neurotoxin (active or passive), possibly combined with treatments aimed at eradicating C. tetani from body reservoirs, could offer promising avenues to prevent PD occurrence and slow disease progression.

Most tetanus vaccinations performed in LHS in the cohort were with DT IMOVAX from Sanofi-Pasteur, with an adult dose of 0.5ml.

These researchers wrote on May 21, 2024, that these results are supported by evidence that antimicrobial treatments significantly alter disease severity, suggesting the actual involvement of Clostridium Tetani in PD pathology.

Additionally, these researchers wrote that further research should explore factors affecting C. tetani proliferation and colonization potential, particularly regarding medication, diet, food supplements, hygiene products, and lifestyle habits.

It strongly supports a large-scale prospective randomized controlled trial to test and validate the protective effect of anti-tetanus vaccination on PD progression in early and advanced stages of PD and in subjects at risk.

This study was funded internally by Leumit Health Services.

Seperately, Vaxxinity, Inc. announced in June and March 2024 positive clinical data from its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 clinical trial for its new therapy UB-312.

UB-312 is the first active immunotherapy candidate to show a reduction of pathological alpha-synuclein (aSyn) in PD patients' cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). UB-312 targets aggregated forms of aSyn, the toxic species that underlies PD and other synucleinopathies.

After a single priming regimen, those treated with UB-312 in the 300/100/100µg dosing group showed a 20% decrease from baseline in aggregated aSyn in the CSF compared to a 3% increase in the placebo group (p<0.05).

Further, a post hoc analysis showed that patients with detectable UB-312-induced antibodies in the CSF exhibited improvement in activities of daily living. These data also suggest a correlation between a reduction in aggregated aSyn in the brain and a change in MDS-UPDRS II (R=0.52, p=0.001).

The Michael J. Fox Foundation funded a two-year collaborative project between Vaxxinity, the Mayo Clinic, and UTHealth Houston to analyze CSF collected from patients and conduct exploratory research to assess target engagement.

These immunization strategies and other therapies may soon alter PD progression.