Therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease.
BACKGROUND
Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of degenerative dementia, represents a tremendous unmet medical need. Although AD had already been described about 100 years ago and despite enormous research efforts, at present only few symptomatic treatment options exist for the more than 25 million patients worldwide. This situation might change as many targets for therapeutic intervention have been identified based on the in-depth study of the pathology of the disease in model systems and humans, and of its underlying genetics.


OBJECTIVE
These targets are highlighted in the context of contemporary drug discovery for the identification of new therapies.


CONCLUSIONS
'Translation' of recent discoveries into disease-modifying therapies has not yet been accomplished. The future will show whether the current drug discovery and development 'pipelines' of pharmaceutical companies yield efficacious new medicines for AD.
SienaBiotech, Siena, Italy.
Alessia
A
Tarditi
Andrea
A
Caricasole
Georg
G
Terstappen
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002799:Cholinergic Fibers / Q000187:drug effects; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D055808:Drug Discovery; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D006801:Humans; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000819:agonists / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000187:drug effects; D018697:Nootropic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000187:drug effects; D014611:Vaccination
D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D018697:Nootropic Agents