At their worst, Alzheimer's patients become confused and delusional. Since so much evidence points to the plaques as the root of the problem, researchers want to figure out how to sweep them away. Scientists from Elan Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco, Calif., made the surprising announcement in the journal Nature that a vaccine could prevent plaques from forming in mice's brains. Even more surprising, the vaccine could remove existing plaques. I think it took everybody in the field completely by surprise.
Vaccines work by stimulating the immune system.
The success of the vaccine in mice was unexpected because the immune system is generally thought to be barricaded out of brain tissue. But apparently, there were holes in the barricade. The vaccination procedure was standard, said Dale Schenk of Elan. The researchers started with mice genetically engineered to produce many plaque deposits. The mice's deposits develop in a pattern similar to that in Alzheimer's patients.