It is commonly accepted that this plaque is the main cause of all cognitive problems associated with Alzheimer's patients.

    The transdermal, or across the skin, vaccination, may offer a simpler way of preventing or treating the devastating neurodegenerative disease with less likelihood of adverse immune reactions.

    The study was published online this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    "While many groups have shown vaccinating against the beta amyloid protein (Ab) can reduce Alzheimer's-like pathology including certain cognitive deficits, this study is the first to demonstrate that immunization using the skin may be an effective way to reduce Ab pathology," said lead researcher Jun Tan, the director of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Psychiatry in University of South Florida.

    A new study promises to make an Alzheimer's vaccine a reality sometime in future after it was found that skin patches were successful in clearing the brain plaques.

    The Alzheimer's vaccine works by triggering the immune system to recognize Ab -- a protein that abnormally builds up in the brains of Alzheimer's patients -- as a foreign invader and attack it.

(Agencies)