Researchers led by Indian-American scientist test vaccine they hope for Alzheimer's

A team of researchers led by an Indian-American scientist are working on a vaccine they hope could prevent Alzheimer's disease by targeting a specific protein commonly found in the brains of patients affected by the neurodegenerative disorder, according to a media report.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder that causes brain cells to degenerate and die. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia a continuous decline in thinking, behavioral and social skills that disrupts a person's ability to function independently.

Researchers at the University of New Mexico led by Dr Kiran Bhaskar, associate professor in the varsity's Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, have started to test the vaccine on mice. It has not yet been shown if it works in people, CBS News reported.

Bhaskar, who's been passionate about studying the disease for the last decade, says the work started with an idea in 2013.

"I would say it took about five years or so to get from where the idea generated and get the fully functioning working vaccine," he said.

"We used a group of mice that have Alzheimer's disease, and we injected them over a series of injections," said PhD student Nicole Maphis.

She said the vaccine targets a specific protein known as tau that's commonly found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

"These antibodies seem to have cleared (out) pathological tau. Pathological tau is one of the components of these tangles that we find in the brains of patients with Alzheimers disease," she explained. The response lasted for months, according to UNM.

Those long tangles "disrupt the ability of neurons to communicate with one another," the school points out, adding that tau is "normally a stabilizing structure inside of neurons."