Home › Research › Inflammation and the immune system
Next-generation active immunization approach for synucleinopathies: implications for Parkinson's disease clinical trials
Mandler M, Valera E, Rockenstein E, Weninger H, Patrick C, Adame A, Santic R, Meindl S et al.. Acta neuropathologica, 2014-02-14
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Immunotherapeutic approaches are currently in the spotlight for their potential as disease-modifying treatments for neurodegenerative disorders. The discovery that α-synuclein (α-syn) can transmit from cell to cell in a prion-like fashion suggests that immunization might be a viable option for the treatment of synucleinopathies. This possibility has been bolstered by the development of next-generation active vaccination technology with short peptides-AFFITOPEs(®) (AFF)- that do not elicit an α-syn-specific T cell response.
Key findings
- The discovery that α-synuclein (α-syn) can transmit from cell to cell in a prion-like fashion suggests that immunization might be a viable option for the treatment of synucleinopathies.
- This possibility has been bolstered by the development of next-generation active vaccination technology with short peptides-AFFITOPEs(®) (AFF)- that do not elicit an α-syn-specific T cell response.
- This approach allows for the production of long term, sustained, more specific, non-cross reacting antibodies suitable for the treatment of synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson's disease (PD).
- In this context, we screened a large library of peptides that mimic the C-terminus region of α-syn and discovered a novel set of AFF that identified α-syn oligomers.
Why it matters
This paper describes a next-generation active vaccination approach using short AFFITOPE peptides for synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease. It concerns Parkinson's disease immunization and reports no Alzheimer's disease treatment, cure or prevention.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 48/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Acta neuropathologica) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Acta Neuropathologica: journal h-index 287 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2014 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 228 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 16.3 citations a year over 14 year(s) since 2014 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 14.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 1 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 27 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Eliezer Masliah: h-index 195 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California San Diego: institution h-index 1,852 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 24525765) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 48 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Mandler, M., Valera, E., Rockenstein, E., Weninger, H., Patrick, C., Adame, A., et al. (2014). Next-generation active immunization approach for synucleinopathies: implications for Parkinson's disease clinical trials. Acta neuropathologica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-014-1256-4
Vancouver
Mandler M, Valera E, Rockenstein E, Weninger H, Patrick C, Adame A, et al. Next-generation active immunization approach for synucleinopathies: implications for Parkinson's disease clinical trials. Acta neuropathologica. 2014. doi:10.1007/s00401-014-1256-4. PMID: 24525765.
BibTeX
@article{mandler2014-24525765,
author = {Mandler, M. and Valera, E. and Rockenstein, E. and Weninger, H. and Patrick, C. and Adame, A. and Santic, R. and Meindl, S. and others},
title = {{Next-generation active immunization approach for synucleinopathies: implications for Parkinson's disease clinical trials}},
journal = {Acta neuropathologica},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1007/s00401-014-1256-4},
pmid = {24525765},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-014-1256-4}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here. Showing 12 of 15.
Later studies that cite this one
1 study in the alzhub library lists this one in its references.