The potential vaccine would address a protein buildup that occurs when two proteins, amyloid-beta (a-beta) and tau, die and create plaques that block connections between brain nerve cells, says the study from researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide Australia in partnership with a research team at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, and University of California, Irvine. Autopsies have shown that these plaques are always present in the brains of deceased Alzheimer’s patients, although Medical News Today reported that it is not clear if there are other underlying processes also contributing to the disease.
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“Essentially what we have designed is a vaccine that makes the immune system produce antibodies, and those antibodies act like tow trucks so they come to your driveway, they latch on to the breakdown protein or car and they pull it out of the driveway,” said Flinders University medicine professor Nikolai Petrovsky, ABC News reported.
The production of a-beta (outside nerve cells) and tau (inside cells) is the result of an inflammation by bacteria that enter the blood stream and must pass the blood-brain barrier. A major entrance place for these bacteria is inflammated gums. Therefore the most important Alzheimer-prophilaction is in the maintenance of teeth and gums. Because many older people are more carefully about their teeth (the last decades) we see a decerease in Alzheimer prevalence.