Some 1,600 patients are involved in tests going on at a number of sites, including Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where both Weiner and Selkoe work. An oral vaccine to prevent juvenile diabetes is being given to several hundred children in various centers throughout the United States. Inflammation in Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis shares similarities with the plaques and inflammation associated with the thickening and blocking of human arteries. Weiner and Maron are collaborating with Peter Libby at Brigham and Women's Hospital to test a nasal vaccine on mice engineered to develop dangerously high levels of cholesterol. Results so far are encouraging.
Vaccinated mice boast smaller plaques in their arteries than their unvaccinated cage mates.