Vaccine Targets Alzheimer Progression in Patients with Down Syndrome

The University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) are partnering with AC Immune to test the effectiveness of an Alzheimer-fighting immunotherapy vaccine in patients with Down syndrome.

The abnormality in genes that creates Down syndrome is also linked to Alzheimer disease. Therefore, patients with Down syndrome are 3 to 5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer. However, the new vaccine aims to reduce the accumulation of the amyloid plaques that cause Alzheimer.
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Previous studies that tested the vaccine in lab mice found that the vaccine improved memory and triggered a robust antibody response.

To conduct their study, researchers will perform a clinical trial with 24 adults aged 35 to 45 years with Down syndrome. Treatment will last 1 year, and researchers will follow up 1 year later.

This will be the first study to test an anti-amyloid immunotherapy vaccine as a treatment of Alzheimer in patients with Down syndrome.

--Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Vaccine targets alzheimer’s disease-like characteristics in people with down syndrome [press release]. San Diego, CA: UC San Diego Health; January 13, 2016. https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2016-01-13-clinical-trial-alzheimers-characteristics-in-down-syndrome.aspx.