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Scooped by Gilbert C FAURE from Alzheimer's Disease R&D Review
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A review on Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology and its management: an update

A review on Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology and its management: an update | NeuroImmunology | Scoop.it
Abstract

Alzheimer's disease acknowledged as progressive multifarious neurodegenerative disorder, is the leading cause of dementia in late adult life. Pathologically it is characterized by intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular amyloidal protein deposits contributing to senile plaques. Over the last two decades, advances in the field of pathogenesis have inspired the researchers for the investigation of novel pharmacological therapeutics centered more towards the pathophysiological events of the disease. Currently available treatments i.e. acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (rivastigmine, galantamine, donepezil) and N-methyl D-aspartate receptor antagonist (memantine) contribute minimal impact on the disease and target late aspects of the disease. These drugs decelerate the progression of the disease, provide symptomatic relief but fail to achieve a definite cure. While the neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease are recognized but the intricacies of the mechanism have not been clearly defined. This lack of understanding regarding the pathogenic process may be the likely reason for the non-availability of effective treatment which can prevent onset and progression of the disease. Owing to the important progress in the field of pathophysiology in the last couple of years, new therapeutic targets are available that should render the underlying disease process to be tackled directly. In this review, authors will discusses the different aspects of pathophysiological mechanisms behind Alzheimer's disease and its management through conventional drug therapy, including modern investigational therapeutic strategies, recently completed and ongoing.


Via Krishan Maggon
Krishan Maggon 's curator insight, January 11, 2015 4:29 AM
Pharmacological Reports

Volume 67, Issue 2, April 2015, Pages 195–203

Review article A review on Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology and its management: an updateAnil Kumar, , , Arti Singh, Ekavali  doi:10.1016/j.pharep.2014.09.004
Scooped by Gilbert C FAURE from Alzheimer's Disease R&D Review
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Molecular Neurodegeneration | Full text | Immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease: hoops and hurdles

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, afflicting more than 30 million people worldwide. Currently, there is no cure or way to prevent this devastating disease.

Via Krishan Maggon
Gilbert C FAURE's insight:
Abstract

.... Extracellular plaques, containing various forms of amyloid-β protein (Aβ), and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), composed of hyper-phosphorylated tau protein, are two major pathological hallmarks of the AD brain. Aggregation, deposition, and N-terminal modification of Aβ protein and tau phosphorylation and aggregation are thought to precede the onset of cognitive decline, which is better correlated with tangle formation and neuron loss. Active and passive vaccines against various forms of Aβ have shown promise in pre-clinical animal models. However, translating these results safely and effectively into humans has been challenging. Recent clinical trials showed little or no cognitive efficacy, possibly due to the fact that the aforementioned neurodegenerative processes most likely pre-existed in the patients well before the start of immunotherapy. Efforts are now underway to treat individuals at risk for AD prior to or in the earliest stages of cognitive decline with the hope of preventing or delaying the onset of the disease. In addition, efforts to immunize against tau and other AD-related targets are underway.

Krishan Maggon 's curator insight, November 2, 2014 1:56 AM

Review

Immunotherapy for Alzheimer’s disease: hoops and hurdles

Cynthia A Lemere

Correspondence: Cynthia A Lemere clemere@partners.org

Author Affiliations

Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, NRB 636F, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston 02115, MA, USA

Molecular Neurodegeneration 2013, 8:36  doi:10.1186/1750-1326-8-36


The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:http://www.molecularneurodegeneration.com/content/8/1/36


Received:3 July 2013Accepted:23 September 2013Published:22 October 2013

© 2013 Lemere; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.