Dr. Oliver Peters of the Charité’s Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
"In up to five, up to ten years we will have the opportunity to use against existing plaques. But probably in ten up to twenty years we will also have a vaccine which can be applied to healthy humans."
DW-TV: Dr. Oliver Peters, how concrete is your research, actually? When will the vaccine hit the market?
Dr. Oliver Peters: That's a good question. I would assume that probably in five years, but it may last up to ten years until we have the vaccine on the market.
DW-TV: You raise a lot of hope - that means you and I when we get older, we will be able to profit from it.
Dr. Oliver Peters: This is true, yes. And in case the phase three studies which are currently ongoing are succesfull, then we would have the opportunity to use the immunization.
DW-TV: And will there also maybe be a preventive effect or will you only be able to reduce existing plaques?
Dr. Oliver Peters: At that time in up to five, up to ten years we will have the opportunity to use against existing plaques. But probably in ten up to twenty years we will also have a vaccine which can be applied to healthy humans.
DW-TV: How come our immune system does not recognise these plaques by itself?
Dr. Oliver Peters: This is a good question, but we don't have a good answer on that. We know not all of the cascades which are ongoing within the disease and for that reason nobody can answer the question exactly.
DW-TV:That means Alzheimers disease is not really understood?
Dr. Oliver Peters: This is true. We understand parts of the disease and the emuloid cascade is one of it. It appears to be an extremely important part of it but its not the whole truth.
DW-TV: Until the vaccine is on the market, how well can Alzheimers disease be treated today already?
Dr. Oliver Peters: We have anti-dementive drugs which are already available since a few years and which are on the market and they should be given to the patients. They have the opportunity to improve the cognitive abilities of the patient and in the very end they will prolong the disease up to one year.
DW-TV: One year doesn't really sound that long. You work with Alzheimer's patients too. Is that a lot of time, one year?
Dr. Oliver Peters: It's not a lot of time, but it's time, definitely. To have one year of living more with more cognitive abilities.
DW-TV: There have been quite a few studies raising hope that we can avoid getting Alzheimers by doing certain activities... being very social, mentally active, doing lots of sports. Is that true?
Dr. Oliver Peters: There are no good, published studies - only ongoing studies which try to prove that sports, healthy nutrition and so on, are good to prevent Alzheimers disease. But we don't have the results of the studies yet.
DW-TV: So we can only hope that it will work?
Dr. Oliver Peters: True.
Interview: Ingolf Baur
