The news advances on Alzheimer’s disease’s therapeutics

H.-Q. Sun, X. Zhang, W.-J. Huang, W.-W. Chen

Department of Neurology, Xuzhou Central Hospital, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China. 85252095@QQ.com

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• Pharmacology

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a multifaceted disorder, characterized by the failure of memory and dementia. AD affects mostly elder above 65 years of age and is confirmed by post-mortem detection in the brain, of extracellular senile plaques of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles. These pathological hallmarks appear in the brain when the disease is already installed. The difficulty of earlier diagnosis and possibly, the poor understanding of the disease etiology, limit the benefits afforded by available treatments. Indeed, several putative drugs resulting from thorough investigations in preclinical studies have failed to produce clinical results, suggesting the development of further therapeutic alternatives.

Recently, the regular practice of physical activity has been shown as one of the effective preventive or curative mean against AD. This finding rekindles the debate on the place of the intrinsic vascular component in the AD pathogenesis which is an aspect of the disease often considered as a distinct pathology. A new integrative conception of the disease may offer an advantage to current therapies which may gain in potency if combined in a multi-target manner to yield true improvements. This review will revisit the pathophysiology of AD and discuss the advanced therapeutics currently in use.

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