Study raises possibility of vaccines against allergies and Alzheimer’s

Researchers at the Universities of Dundee and Oxford have shown how combining the tetanus vaccine with a viral particle that normally affects cucumbers can be used to treat psoriasis and allergies, and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease. Scientists led by Dundee's Dr John Foerster and Oxford's Professor Martin Bachmann, were able to take the protein coat of cucumber mosaic virus and incorporate a tetanus vaccine-derived protein structure known to stimulate the immune system in order to create vaccines to treat multiple chronic diseases. The vaccine showed positive results in models of psoriasis and cat allergy and was shown to raise antibody levels thought to be beneficial in Alzheimer's disease. These vaccines can be preventative - which is the hope for Alzheimer's - but also therapeutic, meaning they can cure a disease like psoriasis after it has already been established. More research is required to test the efficacy of the therapeutic in a clinical setting, but the Dundee-Oxford study raises the possibility of hundreds of thousands of people being spared the ravages of chronic diseases. Dr Foerster said: 'As an academic dermatologist with special interest in the immune system, my specific attention is on vaccines to be developed against chronic skin diseases. The idea is pretty simple - for diseases such as psoriasis or eczema, the newest and most effective medicines on the market are so-called 'antibodies', which are what you and I produce against bugs in a common cold.