GSK taps into UK health data for dementia study

GSK has teamed up with two research organisations in the UK to explore a possible link between its shingles vaccine, Shingrix, and a reduced risk of dementia.

The tantalising hypothesis – drawn from observational and retrospective studies – is that vaccination against shingles (herpes zoster) can help protect against dementia in the following years.

To test it prospectively, GSK will work with the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) and Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) to use deidentified, population-level electronic health data from the NHS to look at the impact of shingles vaccination on dementia risk reduction.

Their study – called EPI-ZOSTER-110 – will look at real-world data from around 1.4 million people aged 65 and 66 at the time that the UK expanded its shingles national immunisation programme in 2023.

After 1st September of that year, all adults turning 65 became eligible for a Shingrix jab, with those aged 66 and over due to get one once they turn 70. That has provided a four-year window of opportunity to follow a large group of vaccinated people and compare them to another group who have not been given a shot.

The study could also help answer the question of whether there are differences between a recombinant shingles vaccine like Shingrix and older, live shingles vaccines that are largely no longer used.

Much of the data suggesting a protective effect dates from before the switch to the recombinant vaccine. However, a retrospective study published in the journal Nature Medicine last year – drawing on electronic health records in the US and also taking advantage of a change in immunisation practice – found a 17% reduction in risk dementia with Shingrix six years after vaccination compared to older live vaccine Zostavax.

That was equivalent to 164 additional days lived without a diagnosis of dementia, according to the study.

"The UK's national scale health data resources provide a significant opportunity for cutting-edge research," said GSK's chief scientific officer Tony Wood.

"We hope this world-class research collaboration will not only answer key questions to help reduce dementia risk but also pave the way for future data-led research to unravel the underlying causes of complex diseases so we can get ahead of them," he added.

The company said that the study – if successful – could serve as a blueprint for population-level health data research models and reinforce the UK's position as a key destination for scientific research. It could also form the basis of a potential expansion of Shingrix's label to include dementia prevention.

How vaccination against herpes zoster can help prevent dementia remains unclear, but there has been speculation that the virus – which causes chickenpox in children – might stimulate processes involved with dementia if reactivated to cause shingles in later life.

It has also been suggested that the immune response induced by the vaccines may have an impact on the pathology of some forms of dementia like Alzheimer's disease.