EU team develops new Alzheimer's vaccine

13-Dec-2006

A recently approved project of the sixth EU Framework Programme MimoVax is focussing on a new target for an Alzheimer's vaccine. The project, coordinated by the Austrian company Affiris GmbH, centres on the use of immune reactions to combat previously overlooked forms of the beta-amyloid that cause Alzheimer's disease. It is being run by seven partner organisations from three countries and has received an exceptionally positive response from Brussels as well as Euro 2.4 million in financial support.

The signing of the contract signalled the start of the active phase of the EU MimoVax project. The project is part of the sixth EU Framework Programme and is seeking to develop an Alzheimer's vaccine that targets specific types of beta-amyloid, the causative agent of Alzheimer's disease.

MimoVax is now pursuing an additional strategy. The project aims to investigate whether an immune reaction can also be induced against other, rarer, forms of beta-amyloid. Indeed, not all peptides in the plaques consist of the typical 40 or 42 amino acids. Mechanical stress or enzymes can cause some amino acids to break down or can alter their chemical composition. Although these modified peptides are also a suitable point of attack for novel treatment strategies, no relevant development programme has been started to date.

It was a technology from Affiris GmbH that proved decisive in securing approval for the project. According to the compnay, this technology enables scientists to get round a key problem posed by vaccines against degenerated human proteins such as beta-amyloid the development of autoimmune reaction. By carefully selecting the correct peptides for the vaccine, Affiris GmbH's mimotope technology enables a precise immune reaction to be implemented against only the degenerated form of the protein, and for this to be done without attacking the natural form. This principle has already been proven in the first vaccine developed by Affiris.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/60112/eu-team-develops-new-alzheimer-s-vaccine.html