- Erratum in:
- Nature 2001 Aug 9;412(6847):660.
- Comment in:
-
Nature. 2000 Dec 21-28;408(6815):915-6.
-
Nature. 2002 Apr 18;416(6882):677.
A beta peptide vaccination prevents memory loss in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease.
Morgan D,
Diamond DM,
Gottschall PE,
Ugen KE,
Dickey C,
Hardy J,
Duff K,
Jantzen P,
DiCarlo G,
Wilcock D,
Connor K,
Hatcher J,
Hope C,
Gordon M,
Arendash GW.
Department of Pharmacology, University of South Florida, Tampa 33612, USA. dmorgan@hsc.usf.edu
Vaccinations with amyloid-beta peptide (A beta) can dramatically reduce amyloid deposition in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. To determine if the vaccinations had deleterious or beneficial functional consequences, we tested eight months of A beta vaccination in a different transgenic model for Alzheimer's disease in which mice develop learning deficits as amyloid accumulates. Here we show that vaccination with A beta protects transgenic mice from the learning and age-related memory deficits that normally occur in this mouse model for Alzheimer's disease. During testing for potential deleterious effects of the vaccine, all mice performed superbly on the radial-arm water-maze test of working memory. Later, at an age when untreated transgenic mice show memory deficits, the A beta-vaccinated transgenic mice showed cognitive performance superior to that of the control transgenic mice and, ultimately, performed as well as nontransgenic mice. The A beta-vaccinated mice also had a partial reduction in amyloid burden at the end of the study. This therapeutic approach may thus prevent and, possibly, treat Alzheimer's dementia.
PMID: 11140686 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]