title: The translocator protein as a drug target in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: The translocator protein (TSPO) recently emerged as a potential drug target in Alzheimer's disease (AD). This has been fuelled mainly by positron emission topography studies that show the upregulation of TSPO in AD, especially in relation to microgliosis and astrogliosis in amyloid-β and tau pathology. Although data as to the exact role of TSPO in AD is still inconclusive, TSPO appears to be involved in neuroinflammatory processes and AD has been shown to involve substantial inflammation. Therefore, further development and investigation of the pharmacological effect of TSPO ligands in AD pathology are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Dementia Research Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Wallace Wurth Building, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Sook W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kassiou
authors.forename: Lars M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ittner
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D018079:Receptors, GABA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018079:Receptors, GABA; C499229:TSPO protein, human