Alzheimer's Vaccine Works on Mice, Says Japanese Scientist

Scientists in Japan have developed an oral vaccine for Alzheimer's disease that has proved effective in mice, raising hopes that an effective treatment for humans can be found for the fatal condition, which affects millions.

Scientists at the National Institute for Longevity Sciences in central Japan said today that they hope to begin small-scale clinical trials of the oral vaccine later this year.

"We hope the phase one trials go well," Reuters news agency quoted Takeshi Tabira, the institute's director, as saying.

"Animals are able to recover their functions after developing symptoms, but humans are less able to do so. It may be that this only works in the early stages of the disease, when symptoms are light."

The vaccine reduced the amount of amyloid plaques - believed to be the cause of Alzheimer's - and improved brain function when administered to mice that had been genetically modified to develop the disease, Mr Tabira said.

The vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to attack and destroy amyloid proteins in the brain, and the mice suffered no side-effects, such as inflammation or bleeding in the brain.

Tests showed that mental function in the mice returned to near-normal levels three months after they were administered the treatment.

Successful trial on humans would boost attempts to prevent Alzheimer's from becoming a medical emergency in countries with rapidly ageing populations.

The disease affects 5 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer's Association, and a recent report by the London School of Economics and the Institute of Psychiatry warned that 1.7 million people in the UK will have dementia by 2051.

One in 20 people aged over 65 and one in five people over 80 have a form of dementia, with around two-thirds of the total suffering from Alzheimer's.