Extending the work from the PLoS ONE study, Michael Agadjanyan proposes a new preventive vaccination scheme for Alzheimer disease. This multivalent DNA epitope vaccine would contain currently known T helper (Th) cell epitopes of various conventional vaccines (e.g., tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, HBV, etc.) fused with three copies of the Aβ42 B cell epitope, Aβ1-11, and a strong Th2-type molecular adjuvant (e.g., MDC as reported in the PLoS ONE paper). People immunized with the conventional vaccines should develop long-lasting memory Th cells to those pathogens. Those later diagnosed with early AD or pre-AD pathology can receive the DNA vaccine (e.g., mTh-Abeta1-11 fused with any potent molecular adjuvant), which should induce activation of pre-existing memory Th cells specific to the various pathogen epitopes on the multivalent vaccine and, subsequently, rapid and robust antibody production through activation of B cells specific to the Aβ component of the same vaccine. To demonstrate the feasibility of this strategy, Agadjanyan is collaborating with flu vaccine researcher Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. They plan to use APP/Tg mice to test the potency of pre-existing memory Th cells generated in response to a conventional flu vaccine by immunizing these animals with a chimeric recombinant influenza virus expressing the immunodominant B-cell epitope of Aβ42, Aβ1-10, in the HA peptide, flu-Aβ1-10. Image credit: Michael Agadjanyan
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