Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston are testing an Alzheimer's vaccine on people.
The nasally administered vaccine, called Protollin, is being tested on a group of 16 people with early Alzheimer's disease, between the ages of 60 to 85 years.
Alzheimer's is a cognitive disease that impairs a memory, thought, and language. It is the most common type of dementia. In 2020, 569,600 Canadians were living with dementia.
"This (vaccine) is using some proteins to stimulate the body's own immune cells to clear away the beta-amyloid, which is really the problematic protein in Alzheimer's disease," Dr. Tanuja Chitnis, a neurologist with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told CTV's Your Morning on Friday.
Amyloid is a protein that builds up in organs and can affect the heart, kidneys, liver, and nervous system.
The vaccine is showing positive results, but more testing is needed to understand dosages and any implications.
"We found that this drug is safe and well-tolerated," Chitnis said. "We're currently working on immunological studies to prove that the vaccine works in the way that we think it does."
If successful, this vaccine could drastically change the lives of people living with Alzheimer's, Chitnis said, allowing anyone to easily administer the drug. The Alzheimer Society of Canada says about 1 in 5 people have experienced caring for someone living with dementia.
"Our results suggested quite safe and patients with early Alzheimer's disease, and we're hoping that it will prevent patients from progressing into those later and more problematic stages of disease in which they can't take care of themselves," Chitnis said.
Another Alzheimer's vaccine has concluded trial results from the U.K., where a randomized placebo-controlled study showed there was a 27 per cent less decline in memory after 18 months.
Chitnis believes more research on Alzheimer's vaccines is "very exciting."
"We're seeing a lot of new treatments for Alzheimer's disease," she said. "Our approach is somewhat different, again, using the body's own immune cells to actually activate and clear away amyloid."
When asked about the trial, Joshua Armstrong, a research scientist with the Alzheimer Society of Canada, said the group would be watching for results.
"This vaccine-like approach of using a nasal spray to activate the body's immune system is a novel and innovative way of potentially addressing the beta amyloid plaques that build up in the brains of people living with Alzheimer's disease," Armstrong said in an email to CTVNews.ca Friday.
"If this treatment passes this Phase 1 trial, which examines the safety and tolerability in just 16 individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, we will be following the future trials of Protollin to see if they result in the reduction of amyloid plaques and the slowing or reversal of cognitive decline in a larger group of patients."
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.