Certain adult vaccines, including those for shingles and pneumonia, may also help older adults fight Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggests.
Prior vaccination against shingles, pneumococcus or tetanus-diphtheria, with or without the addition of pertussis vaccine, can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 25 percent to 30 percent, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center. % in Houston.
The study follows a study published last year in which researchers found that adults who received at least one dose of the flu vaccine were 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than their unvaccinated peers.
“These data suggest that several adult vaccines may also reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” said study author Dr. Paul Schulz, professor of neurology at UTHealth Houston’s McGovern Medical School.
“We and others have hypothesized that the immune system is responsible for brain cell dysfunction in Alzheimer’s. The findings suggest that vaccination has a more general effect on the immune system that reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” Schultz added in a UT press release.
For the study, researchers reviewed the medical records of 1.6 million patients, whether or not they had received routinely recommended vaccinations as adults. Patients were dementia-free during the two-year review period and were at least 65 years old at the start of the eight-year follow-up period.
Studies have shown that people who get the Tdap/Td vaccine to protect themselves from tetanus and diphtheria infections are 30% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than their unvaccinated peers. About 7 percent of vaccinated patients developed Alzheimer’s disease, compared with 10 percent of unvaccinated patients.
The shingles vaccine reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 25% (8% in vaccinated patients vs 11% in unvaccinated patients). The pneumococcal vaccine reduced the risk of developing the disease by 27% (8% in vaccinated patients compared with 11% in unvaccinated patients).
In comparison, three novel amyloid antibodies used to treat Alzheimer’s disease slowed disease progression by 25%, 27% and 35%, the team noted.
“We speculate that the vaccine-related reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease may be the result of a combination of mechanisms,” said study author Avram Bukhbinder, Ph. A recent medical graduate with a Ph.D. currently working at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
“Vaccines can alter the way the immune system responds to the buildup of toxic proteins that lead to Alzheimer’s disease, for example by increasing the efficiency with which immune cells eliminate toxic proteins, or by ‘directing’ the immune response to these proteins in order to ‘response’ to nearby healthy brain cells. There’s less collateral damage to the cells,” he said. “Certainly, these vaccines protect against infections like shingles, which cause neuroinflammation.”
The researchers note that the study underscores the importance of easy access for patients to routine adult vaccinations.
The findings were recently published online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
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