EU team develops Alzheimer's vaccine from Austria

A recently approved project of the sixth EU Framework Programme - MimoVax - is focussing on a new target for an Alzheimer's vaccine. The project, coordinated by the Austrian company Affiris, centres on the use of immune reactions to combat previously overlooked forms of the beta-amyloid that cause Alzheimer's disease.

The project is being run by seven partner organisations from three countries and has received Euro 2.4m financial support from the European Parliament in Brussels.

'Alzheimer's is caused by deposits of beta-amyloid peptides. These deposits - also known as plaques - are formed when parts of a human protein detach from the cell membrane of nerve cells and clump together,' said Dr Frank Mattner, project manager and cso of Affiris.

'A high proportion of these peptides, the so called beta-amyloids, consist of 40 or 42 amino acids. The first vaccine developed by Affiris targets precisely these types of peptides and helps to break down the plaques,' he added.

The technology that Affiris says proved decisive in securing approval for the project enables scientists to get round a key problem posed by vaccines against degenerated human proteins such as beta-amyloid - the development of autoimmune reaction. By selecting the correct peptides for the vaccine, Affiris mimotope technology enables a precise immune reaction to be implemented against only the degenerated form of the protein, and for this to be done without attacking the natural form.

During the MimoVax project, both pre-clinical and the first clinical phases of development for the new vaccine will be carried out over the next three years. Throughout the project, Affiris will be coordinating a group of partners from Austria, Germany and Spain comprising three other Industrial companies, two university institutes and a clinic. 20 scientists are working together in this group and will be meeting in Vienna for their first working conference as early as October.