Vaccine targets the protein PCSK9.
By Raif Karerat
Scientists have developed a new vaccine that has drastically reduced blood cholesterol levels dramatically in test animals.
The vaccine targets the protein PCSK9, which encourages the breakdown of receptors cholesterol binds to when it is flushed out of the body. People who do not produce the protein have a decreased risk of heart disease, while some with mutations in the protein are more prone to developing cardiac conditions.
For mice, the vaccine was tested on its own, and it showed lowered levels of cholesterol in the blood. In macaque monkeys, the treatment was combined with statins, the typical drug used to treat heart disease and cholesterol, and it showed an even more drastic drop in cholesterol.
“Statins are still the most commonly prescribed medication for cholesterol. Although they are effective in many people, do have side effects and don’t work for everyone,” said Dr. Alan Remaley, a researcher at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in a press release. “The results of our vaccine were very striking, and suggest it could be a powerful new treatment for high cholesterol.”
Two other new drugs, alirocumab and evolocumab [sic], were recently approved by the FDA that target PCSK9 and dramatically reduce cholesterol levels, but their use is restricted to patients with a genetic, hard-to-treat form of high cholesterol or specific types of heart disease, according to United press international.
Furthermore, alirocumab and evolocumab cost between $7,000 and $12,000 per year per patient. while esearchers at the University of Mexico and National Institutes of Health think the new treatment could cost a fraction of that.
The researchers’ findings were published in the journal Vaccine.