Mario Riverol, a neurologist from Lanzarote, is leading a clinical trial at the University Clinic of Navarra to halt the development of Alzheimer's disease through a vaccine, which could become a reality "in about five years," according to this specialist on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
Mario Riverol graduated in Medicine from the University of Medicine in 1999 and has been a specialist in Neurology at the University Clinic of Navarra since 2004. In addition, in 2011 he obtained a doctorate in Medicine and completed a postdoctoral stay at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center of the University of Pittsburgh (USA), later joining the Memory Disorders Unit of the University Clinic of Navarra, where he is developing this clinical trial to obtain a vaccine to stop Alzheimer's.
Currently, according to Riverol, the drugs that exist for Alzheimer's are "symptomatic", which manage to "slow down the symptoms, but do not cure the disease". "And these clinical trials would be aimed at going to the reason, to the cause of Alzheimer's," said the head of the team that is testing the drug, which seeks to "the patients themselves generate antibodies" to protect themselves against this disease.
A trial in 127 patients to see "how well it is tolerated and how safe it is"
"In Alzheimer's disease there is a protein called amyloid, which is deposited and is supposed to be the cause of the memory problem. The trials that are currently coming out are to obtain antibodies, which what they do is reach the brain and that amyloid in the brain, in such a way that this can paralyze or reverse the general degenerative process. And with this vaccine, what we want to do is for the patient himself to generate those antibodies," explained the neurologist from Lanzarote, pointing out that it is "like when a vaccine for a virus is given, which what is formed are antibodies against a virus that if it comes into contact with the body, the body rejects it". "Well, the same with that vaccine. What we want is for people to generate antibodies to protect themselves against Alzheimer's disease and that amyloid can disappear from their brain," he added.
At the moment, according to Mario Riverol, the clinical trial is in a phase "to see how well the vaccine is tolerated and how safe it is for patients with Alzheimer's". "This trial is being carried out on about 127 patients, I think, in different centers in Spain and also abroad, and if this is well tolerated, we would move on to a trial with many more patients, which would be the previous stage to see if it is possible for the drug to be really effective and could be marketed," said the specialist, who hopes that "in about five years approximately" it could be a reality, although he pointed out that this date may vary "depending on the results of the studies".
More cases because "our population is more aged"
The neurologist from Lanzarote has stated that "there is a lot of concern about Alzheimer's disease", because "it is very prevalent in the current population". "Especially because it is a disease that is associated with aging and our population is increasingly aging and we see more cases," said Mario Riverol, who also explained the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's.
"Dementia means that someone has an alteration of the higher functions, either of memory or language, that affects their activities of daily living. In that sense, dementia is not a specific disease, but a set of symptoms. And the most frequent cause of dementia, in 70 or 80 percent of cases, is Alzheimer's, although there are other rarer neurodegenerative diseases that can also cause dementia. And we are indeed seeing it more and more, but because it is a disease associated with aging, he insisted.
In fact, Mario Riverol pointed out that "aging healthily and reaching 100 years well is not the most frequent thing". "The most frequent thing is that from the age of 85, up to 50 percent of people have dementia and that this worsens when the ages are more advanced," said this specialist, who believes that what should be "studied very well is people who reach 100 years without any cognitive problem, which is the rarest thing".
A healthy and intellectually rich life to reduce the risks
In this sense, although he has acknowledged that it is not well known whether factors such as diet or stress influence the appearance of Alzheimer's, he has stressed that "leading a healthy life, especially in middle ages of life, around 30, 40 or 50 years, helps to reach 70 or 80 better. "Protecting the heart also helps protect the brain," he said, stressing the importance of "avoiding tension, cholesterol and smoking" of "doing physical exercise
"And then, leading an intellectually rich life also helps our neurons to have more contacts, more synapses, and better withstand the onslaught of Alzheimer's disease. So, all the people who have taken care of themselves in terms of cardiovascular risk factors, lifestyle habits and also intellectually, resist the disease better and it appears later or may not even appear," concluded Mario Riverol.
