title: Current therapeutic targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which no cure exists. There is a substantial need for new therapies that offer improved symptomatic benefit and disease-slowing capabilities. In recent decades there has been substantial progress in understanding the molecular and cellular changes associated with Alzheimer's disease pathology. This has resulted in identification of a large number of new drug targets. These targets include, but are not limited to, therapies that aim to prevent production of or remove the amyloid-beta protein that accumulates in neuritic plaques; to prevent the hyperphosphorylation and aggregation into paired helical filaments of the microtubule-associated protein tau; and to keep neurons alive and functioning normally in the face of these pathologic challenges. We provide a review of these targets for drug development.
authors.affiliation: Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research, Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jgrill@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Joshua D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Grill
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cummings
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018682:GABA Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D018682:GABA Agents; D016875:tau Proteins; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases