Scientists in Oklahoma are hopeful about Alzheimer's vaccine

OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahoma City scientists have developed a vaccine that could restrain or even thwart Alzheimer’s Disease, according to The Oklahoman online.

The vaccine, designed to fight dementia in the brain via the human immune system, could reach human clinical trials in three to four years, according to officials at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

“These results are extremely exciting,” said Jordan Tang, OMRF researcher who led the laboratory study that resulted in the vaccine. “They certainly show that this vaccination approach warrants additional investigation as a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.”

The illness, a fatal, memory-robbing disease, affects several million Americans, including 70,000 Oklahomans. November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month.

Results of OMRF’s vaccine research appeared in the Oct. 21 edition of The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. “This is the first time this type of Alzheimer’s vaccine has been produced anywhere. Other types of vaccines have been tried, but have failed,” OMRF spokesman Adam Cohen said.

Tang had pointed out that while the vaccine should be an addition to developments to cure the disease, rather than a substitution, the vaccine is still in its critical stages.

Back 2002, the pharmaceutical company Elan halted trials of a different vaccine after 15 patients suffered swelling of the central nervous system. OMRF president, Dr. Stephen Prescott, said he’s hopeful Tang’s work will avoid the pitfalls that weighed down Elan’s vaccine. “This vaccination stimulates the immune system more gently than previous Alzheimer’s vaccines, so we are optimistic about its prospects going forward,” he said.