title: Toward a comprehensive theory for Alzheimer's disease. Hypothesis: Alzheimer's disease is caused by the cerebral accumulation and cytotoxicity of amyloid beta-protein.
abstract: A central challenge of research on Alzheimer's disease (AD) is to assemble the enormous body of scientific observations about the disorder, some of them seemingly in conflict with others, into a coherent and credible mechanism of pathogenesis. In this article, I attempt to synthesize the disparate findings on AD into a unified sequence that essentially begins with alterations in the production or clearance of the amyloid beta-protein (A beta). Mounting evidence from many laboratories supports an A beta accumulation in limbic and association cortices as the fundamental initiator of the disease, with attendant therapeutic implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, and Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. boucher@cnd.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Selkoe
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003603:Cytotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D003603:Cytotoxins