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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2006;296:272.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Scientists from Japan and Switzerland report that an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer disease reduces brain deposits of -amyloid (A) protein, a hallmark of the disease, in a mouse model for the disorder (Okura Y et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006;103:9619-9624). Previous studies with an A peptide vaccine found that reducing plaques in such mice was associated with recovery of cognitive deficits; however, a clinical trial of this type of vaccine was halted because some patients developed brain inflammation.

The researchers injected the mice with a DNA vaccine containing part of the gene sequence for A. Vaccinations were started at age 3 or 4 months (before the appearance of amyloid deposits) or at age 12 months (after amyloid deposits had started to develop). Compared with untreated mice, animals treated before the onset of A deposition developed only 15% of the A . . . [Full Text of this Article]