Researchers successfully test Alzheimer's vaccine in mice

The human brain.
(Image credit: iStockphoto)

Alzheimer's disease is an illness of the brain that causes memory loss and other losses in cognitive function, as well as being responsible for over half of all dementia cases. Because there isn't a cure or treatment that can reverse the deterioration of mental function due to Alzheimer's, prevention is often people's best hope of not getting the disease. And now, researchers at the University of New Mexico are working on a preventative treatment in an unlikely form: a vaccine.

While usually vaccines target illnesses that are caused by invasive microorganisms like bacteria and viruses, this one actually targets a protein that is often found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, reported KRQE, an affiliate of CBS. The protein, called "pathological tau," was successfully cleared by the antibodies in the vaccine when tested on mice with Alzheimer's.

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Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.