Alzheimer's vaccine: Nasal spray
As you may know already Alzheimer affects memory, thought and speech.
A women's hospital in Boston are testing an Alzheimer's vaccine on people. It is a vaccine that is given to a person nasally. This vaccine is called Protollin, it is being tested on 16 people with early Alzheimer's problem. The age range that is getting this vaccine is 60 to 85 years of age.
According to CTV news, this vaccine is using some proteins of the person's own immune cells to get rid of beta-amyloid. Which is really a major issue with Alzheimer's.
Amyloid is a protein that builds up in the organs and it can cause problems to the liver , heart, nervous system and kidneys. The researcher has said the vaccine is showing positive results, but more testing needs to conducted to know more about the dosage amounts and frequency amount.
Tanuja Chitnis, a neurologist with Brigham and Women’s Hospital has said that the vaccine is safe and well tolerated, they will need more tests and research to be done to prove that the vaccine works in the way the think it works.
Chitnis says with more research currently and positive results, this can change people's lives for the better who deal with Alzheimer's. Their vaccine can be easily given to a person, or the individual can easily use it themselves.
The results are quite safe for people with early Alzheimer's, they are are hoping that this will prevent Alzheimer's from moving on to more complicated stages. She has said.
This vaccine approach of using a nasal spray to push the body's immune system, to clear away the beta amyloid plaques in the brains of people who have Alzheimer's is something new and innovative approach.
If this vaccine like nasal spray passes phase one trial of ensuring that it is quite safe to use on people, it will get clearance to continue to future trials. So they can give this treatment to a larger group of people and see if amyloid plaques are reduced, and if it slows down or eliminates the cognitive decline that people suffer from.