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According to a study from the University of Oxford, some vaccines may reduce the risk of dementia through double effects that help protect the brain through JAB-added “adjuvant” chemicals and suppress the virus.
An analysis of 430,000 health records in the US, released Wednesday, found that vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) using Arexvy from GlaxoSmithkline was associated with a 29% reduction in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia over the course of 18 months.
Although the findings add to the growing evidence of the association between viral infections and dementia, Oxford scientists were most excited to conclude that the majority of dementia reductions could be due to AS01 adjuvant.
Paul Harrison, a psychiatry professor at Oxford, said it could pave the way for a new approach to dementia prevention. “The findings are impressive,” he said. “More research is needed to see if adjuvants contribute to lowering the risk of dementia and understand how it does.”
Previous studies have shown that Shingrix, the latest vaccine for GSK against shingles, is caused by the herpes zoster virus – reduces the risk of dementia by 27%. Unlike its predecessor, Zostavax, Shingrix contains the same AS01 adjuvant.
Shingrix and Arexvy reduced dementia at a similar rate, but they targeted very different viruses and contributed to the Oxford team’s discussion that adjuvants played a key role.
Another boost to their argument is the fact that “the protective effect can be seen within months of vaccination, as such a short time frame is unlikely to prevent enough infection in order to explain the magnitude of protection,” Harrison said.
The duration of protection is unknown.
Scientists don’t know how AS01 reduces the risk of dementia, but this effect can be involved in the brain’s immune system. Recent studies have shown this to play an important role in Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, published in the Journal NPJ vaccine, compared the health of people on the Trinetx data network who received control groups who received only the flu vaccine, either alone or in combination.
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“One of the strengths of this study is that it was tailored to factors that could affect risk, such as underlying health conditions and some lifestyle and environmental factors,” says Julia Dudley, Head of Research at Charity Alzheimer’s Disease Research UK.
“However, we cannot rule out that the link between vaccines and risk of dementia is due to other factors not captured in this study. We may be able to explore new treatment approaches because we understand more about the biological mechanisms behind the protective effects seen with vaccines.”
To maintain independence, researchers excluded GSK from involvement in the analysis. The company said: “This is an interesting and independent study. We are working with the UK Institute for Dementia and Health Data Research UK to investigate the potential link between shiny slab vaccination and reduced risk of dementia. We look forward to assessing these new findings.”