Frontier to prevent Parkinson's disease, DNA vaccine is expected to enter the clinic

▎WuXi AppTec Content Team Editor Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease of the elderly that affects motor and cognitive function
.

The accumulation of α-synuclein in the brain of patients is considered to be one of the important reasons for the onset and progression of PD
.

A study recently published in npj Vaccines by the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) and partners shows that an immunogenic vaccine developed against pathological α-synuclein not only elicits high levels of anti-α-synuclein in animal models -Synuclein antibody, but also improves motor function in mice
.

The new study describes four vaccines designed to generate high levels of antibodies against pathological alpha-synuclein
.

Of the 4 vaccines, the best results were obtained with the vaccine called PV-1950, which was administered using a vaccine design called MultiTEP that simultaneously targets 3 B cell epitopes of the pathological molecule.
The most pronounced reductions in alpha-synuclein and neurodegeneration were found in the brains of mice
.

▲ MultiTEP's vaccine design (Image source: Nuravax's official website) One of the senior authors of the paper, Dr.
Michael G.
Agadjanyan of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, said: "The development of a safe and Immunogenic vaccines are the goal of IMM
.

Our most potent vaccine, PV-1950, produced robust antibodies, reduced pathological alpha-synuclein and improved motor deficits in mouse models of disease
.

"There are two versions of PV-1950 - one based on DNA and one based on recombinant protein, with both a heterologous DNA and recombinant protein vaccine for priming - and booster vaccination is a promising way to elicit stronger antibody responses," he continued
.

Nuravax, a startup co-founded by Dr.
Agadjanyan, will continue development of PV-1950 with plans to advance it into preventive clinical trials in humans
.

Reference: [1] Kim et al.
, (2022).
Efficacy and immunogenicity of MultiTEP-based DNA vaccines targeting human α-synuclein: prelude for IND studies enabling.
npj Vaccines, https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41541 -021-00424-2[2] DNA vaccine spurs antibodies against a common Parkinson's target in mice.
Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https:// common-parkinson-s-target-mice[3] NOVEL PREVENTIVE VACCINE FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE WOULD MOVE INTO HUMAN TRIALS.
Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://ptproductsonline.
com/neurological/parkinsons/novel-preventive-vaccine-for -parkinsons-disease-would-move-into-human-trials/Disclaimer: The WuXi AppTec content team focuses on introducing global biomedical health research progress
.

This article is for information exchange purposes only, and the views expressed in this article do not represent WuXi AppTec's position, nor do they represent WuXi AppTec's support or opposition to the views expressed in this article
.

This article is also not a treatment plan recommendation
.

For guidance on treatment options, please visit a regular hospital
.