The day may soon be coming where you can get a vaccine to prevent or slow Alzheimer's. According to researchers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City the may have developed a vaccine that can do just that.
Researcher Jordan Tang says the results of their research is "extremely exciting" and he believes the merit more research. Human testing could begin in 3 to 4 years.
Designed to stimulate the body's own immune system, the experimental vaccine may fight dementia in the brain. Tang and colleagues identified the enzyme, memapsin 2, that creates the protein fragments that are believed to be the cause of Alzheimer's. Their work has also resulted in the creation of an experimental drug to treat Alzheimer's which works by inhibiting memapsin 2. Human clinical trials began in the summer of 2007 for that drug.
This research is partially funded by a grant from The Alzheimer's Association.
[Source: Fox News]
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