Despite decades of Alzheimer's research, scientists have not found a treatment that halts or dramatically slows the disease. Now, scientists are investigating if a completely new approach — so-called Alzheimer's vaccines — could alter the disease's course.
The logic behind this effort? Much of the previous research has placed beta-amyloid plaques, clumps of protein that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, front-and-center. But drugs that remove beta-amyloid plaques alone don't seem to have much impact on the disease course. So some researchers have proposed that the plaques are a consequence, rather than a cause of Alzheimer's.
