Novel Vaccine against Pathological Pyroglutamate-Modified Amyloid Beta for Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease

Post-translationally modified N-terminally truncated amyloid beta peptide with a cyclized form of glutamate at position 3 (pE₃Aβ) is a highly pathogenic molecule with increased neurotoxicity and propensity for aggregation. In the brains of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) cases, pE₃Aβ represents a major constituent of the amyloid plaque. The data show that pE₃Aβ formation is increased at early pre-symptomatic disease stages, while tau phosphorylation and aggregation mostly occur at later stages of the disease. This suggests that pE₃Aβ accumulation may be an early event in the disease pathogenesis and can be prophylactically targeted to prevent the onset of AD. The vaccine (AV-1986R/A) was generated by chemically conjugating the pE₃Aβ_3-11 fragment to our universal immunogenic vaccine platform MultiTEP, then formulated in Advax^CpG adjuvant. AV-1986R/A showed high immunogenicity and selectivity, with endpoint titers in the range of 10⁵–10⁶ against pE₃Aβ and 10³–10⁴ against the full-sized peptide in the 5XFAD AD mouse model. The vaccination showed efficient clearance of the pathology, including non-pyroglutamate-modified plaques, from the mice brains. AV-1986R/A is a novel promising candidate for the immunoprevention of AD. It is the first late preclinical candidate which selectively targets a pathology-specific form of amyloid with minimal immunoreactivity against the full-size peptide. Successful translation into clinic may offer a new avenue for the prevention of AD via vaccination of cognitively unimpaired individuals at risk of disease.