Thursday, June 07, 2012

successful vaccine/treatment for Alzheimer's

I was going to write about suicide today (a guy I know killed himself last week), but then I found an article that made me cry in a different way.  Scientists in Sweden have a vaccine that works for Alzheimer's disease that is also a treatment for mild to moderate AD.
I'm going to say it again, a little louder.


Scientists in Sweden have a vaccine that works for Alzheimer's disease that is also a treatment for mild to moderate AD.

The prevailing hypothesis about its cause involves APP (amyloid precursor protein), a protein that resides in the outer membrane of nerve cells and that, instead of being broken down, form a harmful substance called beta-amyloid, which accumulates as plaques and kills brain cells.....The new treatment, which is presented in Lancet Neurology, involves active immunisation, using a type of vaccine designed to trigger the body's immune defence against beta-amyloid...modified to affect only the harmful beta-amyloid. The researchers found that 80 per cent of the patients...developed their own protective antibodies against beta-amyloid without suffering any side-effects over the three years of the study. The researchers believe that this suggests that the CAD106 vaccine is a tolerable treatment for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's. 


please, please, please let this be true. let this scourge end.


1 comment:

Bobbin said...

Hello. I stumbled upon your blog today in search of "real-life" resources regarding Alzheimer's. I've started my own blog about my family's coping process with my father's AD diagnosis and will visit your site often, as I find solace in people who truly understand. I am so sorry for the painful road you traveled and surely continue to walk. I am certain your father was a great man and passed knowing he was loved.