7th June 2012 - News release
The first clinical trial for the development of a
Parkinson’s Disease vaccine has been started by AFFiRiS AG. The vaccine called
PD01A is directed against alpha-Synuclein, a protein considered by AFFiRis to
cause the onset and progression of Parkinson's Disease. The vaccination
aims to educate the immune system to generate antibodies directed against
alpha-Synuclein. They believe that a reduction of the brain’s
alpha-Synuclein aggregates will have a beneficial impact on the progress of
Parkinson's Disease. PD01A aims to accomplish that by the induction of
antibodies that are targeting alpha-Synuclein, in order to neutralize its toxic
impact.
The vaccine is currently being tested on people with
Parkinson’s Disease in a Phase I trial. The clinical trial is taking place in
Vienna and involves up to 32 patients. The primary purpose is to assess the
safety and tolerability of PD01A.
The weakness in the theory on which the method is reliant is
that a lot of people with Parkinson's Disease do not accumulate alpha-Synuclein.
So there is none to get rid of. Most people that have an accumulation of
alpha-Synuclein in the brain do not have Parkinson's Disease either, thereby
proving that alpha-Synuclein is not the cause of Parkinson's Disease.