title: Special Issue: "Molecules against Alzheimer".
abstract: This Special Issue, entitled "Molecules against Alzheimer", gathers a number of original articles, short communications, and review articles on recent research efforts toward the development of novel drug candidates, diagnostic agents and therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder and a leading cause of death worldwide. This Special Issue contains many interesting examples describing the design, synthesis, and pharmacological profiling of novel compounds that hit one or several key biological targets, such as cholinesterases, β-amyloid formation or aggregation, monoamine oxidase B, oxidative stress, biometal dyshomeostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, serotonin and/or melatonin systems, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, sigma receptors, nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, or nuclear erythroid 2-related factor. The development of novel AD diagnostic agents based on tau protein imaging and the use of lithium or intranasal insulin for the prevention or the symptomatic treatment of AD is also covered in some articles of the Special Issue.
authors.affiliation: Pharmazeutische und Medizinische Chemie, Institut für Pharmazie und Lebensmittelchemie, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany. michael.decker@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, and Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), University of Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII, 27-31, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain. dmunoztorrero@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Torrero
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000473:pathology; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; drug discovery; hybrid molecules; imaging agents; multi-target-directed molecules; neurogenic molecules; neuroprotectants; polypharmacology; rational design