Published in Scientific Reports: Researchers from the US and Flinders University have developed a potent vaccine formulation against the triggers of Alzheimer's disease.
The US-led study used an adjuvant technology developed by Australian biotech Vaxine Pty Ltd to deliver a combination of vaccines against aberrant forms of the anti-amyloid-beta and anti-tau proteins.
The formation of plaques by amyloid-beta is believed to drive Alzheimer’s disease, while the accumulation of pathological tau also correlates with dementia in Alzheimer’s patients.
The vaccines against these hallmark proteins of Alzheimer's were produced through a universal vaccine platform, called MultiTEP, which the US researchers developed with funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Alzheimer's Association.According to the researchers, the MultiTEP platform-based vaccines generate strongly binding antibodies against the disease targets but do not induce potentially harmful auto-reactive cellular immune responses.
The results presented in Scientific Reports suggests that a combination of anti-amyloid-beta and ant-tau proteins delivered with the Vaxine Advax™ adjuvant technology could lead to both preventative and therapeutic approaches in Alzheimer's.
The next step of the research collaboration are non-clinical safety-toxicology studies to fulfil US Government safety standards for the Investigational New Drug application. If successful, the immunogenicity and efficacy will then be subject of human trials.