A Nasal Vaccine Against Tau Tangles

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the accumulation of “tau tangles”. Tau is a protein associated with the axons of nerve cells and plays a critical role in shuttling nutrients and other essential molecules to brain cells. In Alzheimer’s patients, tau fibrils aggregate into knotted masses, resulting in nerve cell death and cognitive decline. Memory loss and personality changes are among some of the earliest signs signalling the onset of AD.

A team of Japanese researchers have developed a nasal vaccine treatment designed to prevent and treat AD progression. In a recent study published in Nature, the scientists describe promising results of the vaccine in a mouse model of AD.

The scientists used mice selectively bred to express genes that make them prone to developing dementia. A closer look at the brains of these mice show significant shrinkage of their brain tissue, or atrophy.

When vaccinated, the mice had reduced amounts of brain atrophy and reduced cognitive symptoms, behaving similarly to their healthy counterparts. Moreover, no harmful side effects were observed in the mice up to eight months after vaccine administration.

This new vaccine evokes an immune response against the tau protein, suppressing the accumulation of tau tangles. The researchers packaged the genes encoding the…