Gene therapy for Alzheimer’s disease

In this project VU University researchers in the field of Alzheimer’s joined forces with Degenrx BV to test a new therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's is a form of dementia and affects memory, thinking and behaviour. It is a neurodegenerative disease in which amyloid beta (Aβ) is one of the typical hallmarks of the disease in the brain. Alzheimer’s is devastating disease and currently has no cure. People above age 80 have 20% chance of getting Alzheimer’s. This project is aimed at ultimately treating people at an early disease stage as to prevent progression.

In this project immunotherapy with an antibody against Aβ oligomers was tested. They looked at whether this antibody is expressed in the brain after viral transduction, and whether such therapy can bring about an improvement on learning and memory. This analysis showed that antibody was present in cultured neurons and in the Alzheimer's animal model. Analyses showed that the antibody was present 6 weeks after injection.  There was also glial cell activation after the injections, which may indicate that too high a dose of virus was used. Treated animals were eventually tested in a memory test, which showed that there was no memory improvement in the antibody treated animals.  

The conclusion from the experiments is that in a new study the dose should be reduced, and that the effect on memory should then be looked at again. It is also wise to look at the amount of amyloid plaques, also typical for Alzheimer’s disease. These experiments will now be carried out in a follow-up project.

For more information take a look at this website.