A NASAL spray that could clear plaques from the brains of people with Alzheimer鈥檚 will be tested in humans next year.
The spray stimulates brain cells called microglia to 鈥渆at鈥� the protein plaques, which are thought to cause the disease. When tested in mice it reduced plaques by 83 per cent (The Journal of Clinical Investigation, DOI: 10.1172/JCI23241).
Previous attempts to develop a vaccine for Alzheimer鈥檚 were halted when some of the volunteers developed potentially dangerous brain inflammation. But Howard Weiner and colleagues at Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, discovered that the inflammation was accompanied by a dramatic clearing of plaques. 鈥淪ometimes inflammation is good,鈥� he says.
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His team then showed that Alzheimer鈥檚 mice treated to develop inflammation also cleared beta-amyloid from their brains. It discovered that the inflammation activated microglia, which then ate up the plaques.
This led the team to develop the nasal spray, which it hopes will safely activate microglia in humans.
