Washington, Sept 27 (ANI): A Georgia Health Sciences University graduate student has been honoured with the 2011 Darrell W. Brann Scholarship in Neuroscience, a 1,000 dollars award, for discovering a new target for Alzheimer's vaccine.
He found that an accomplice to the protein that causes plaque build-up in Alzheimer's disease is the focus of a potential new treatment.
In Alzheimer's, the amyloid protein can accumulate in the brain instead of being eliminated by the body's natural defences, nestling between the neurons and forming impassable plaques.
"RAGE, or receptor for advanced glycation endproducts, proteins bind to amyloid and transport it into the brain," said Scott Webster, a fifth-year graduate student who is studying the disease in the lab of Dr. Alvin Terry, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Research has shown that RAGE may also contribute to the inflammation and damage that amyloid causes to the brain's nerve cells.
Webster is researching a vaccine that targets RAGE and amyloid by using the body's own immune system to protect against their over-production and eventual build-up.
Webster hopes that targeting the RAGE protein and changing how the vaccine is administered will minimize inflammatory side effects. (ANI)
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