In the August 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation Howard Weiner and colleagues from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, have further characterized the immune response to Abeta in humans, and revealed intriguing reactions of the elderly human body to Abeta. The authors found that some healthy, elderly individuals, as well as those with AD, contained elevated levels of T cells reactive towards Abeta, when compared to healthy middle-aged adults. While the general trend is for a diminished immune response with age, this finding demonstrates a very selective increase in the Abeta-reactivity of T cells with age in both healthy and AD-affected individuals. The authors went on to characterize the particular regions of the Abeta protein and T cells that react. This reactivity has implications for the design of Abeta vaccines and may itself be linked to susceptibility and course of disease, and appears to be linked with the aging process.
In their accompanying commentary Drs. John Cirrito and David Holtzman from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri discuss the implications of this study with regard to the development of Abeta vaccines.
TITLE: Increased T cell reactivity to amyloid b protein in older humans and patients with Alzheimer disease
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Howard L. Weiner
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Phone: 617-525-5300
Fax: 617-525-5252
Email: hweiner@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
View the PDF of this article at: http://www.jci.org/cgi/content/full/112/3/415
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY:
Amyloid-beta and Alzheimer disease therapeutics: The devil may be in the details
AUTHOR CONTACT:
David M. Holtzman
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Phone: 314-747-0286
Fax: 314-362-2826
Email: holtzman@neuro.wustl.edu
View the PDF of this commentary at: https://www.the-jci.org/press/19420.pdf
Journal of Clinical Investigation