[Current trend of immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease]

Immunotherapy targeting amyloidbeta (Abeta) for Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been developed based on the amyloid cascade hypothesis. It was shown that active immunization using Abeta peptide attenuates amyloid deposits and memory impairment in AD model mice. However, active immunization of patients with AD (AN1792) was halted because 6 % of patients developed meningoencephalitis. Follow-up studies demonstrated that AN1792 could not improve cognitive functions, although senile plaques were cleared. These results suggest that active immunization is a valid strategy and bring us a new perspective. It is speculated that the next generation immunotherapy should activate humoral immunity but not cellular immunity. Recently, there are a lot of immunization strategies for AD. Here we introduce a current trend of immunotherapy for AD.