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Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Science of the UNM, Kiran Bhaskar, pbadionate about studying the disease for a decade, said that the search for a cure had begun with an idea in 2013.
"I would say that it took about five years or so to understand where the idea came from and get the vaccine that works perfectly," he said, according to CBS.
Bhaskar and his team started testing the vaccine on mice.
"We used a group of mice with Alzheimer's disease and we injected them after a series of injections," says Nicole Maphis, PhD student.
Maphis indicates that the vaccine targets a specific protein called tau, usually present in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Maphis was pleased with the test results.
"These antibodies seem to have eliminated the pathological tau.The pathological tau is one of the components of these tangles that are found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease," he explains. -she. The answer lasted for months, according to the UNM.
These long entanglements "disrupt the ability of neurons to communicate with each other," the school emphasizes, adding that tau is "normally a stabilizing structure inside neurons".
The mice then went through a series of labyrinth-like tests. Mice that received the vaccine had much better results than those that did not.
Despite this, Maphis and Bhaskar say it's not a complete success yet. It will not only take a few more years for the vaccine to be available, but it could cost up to a billion dollars.
"We need to make sure we have a clinical version of the vaccine so we can perform tests on people," Bhaskar said.
Testing only a small group would cost $ 2 million to the UNM's Department of Health Sciences. At present, Maphis and Bhaskar are looking for partnerships to help them develop a clinical grade vaccine.
Once they have developed a safe vaccine for humans, they will have to submit it to the FDA for approval. It could take another five years.
Alzheimer's disease affects nearly one-third of the elderly and "is increasing, currently affecting 43 million people worldwide," notes the UNM.
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