Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 10, Issue 2, 2013

Alzheimer disease (AD) is one of the most common and serious neurodegenerative disorders in humans. For this reason, the search for new anti-AD treatments is a very active area. Only few biological receptors associated with AD have been well studied. The efficacy of the current drugs is limited by the fact that they inhibit only one target like protein. Thus, the rational design of new drug candidates as versatile inhibitors fo Read More

The availability of an accurate genetic test to identify Huntington's Disease (HD) in the pre-symptomatic stage makes HD an important model to develop biomarkers for other neurodegenerative diseases, such as pre-clinical Alzheimer's Disease. We reasoned that functional changes, measured by functional MRI (fMRI), would precede gray matter changes and that performing a task specifically affected by the disease Read More

Inhibition of the β-secretase, BACE1, which cleaves amyloid precursor protein (APP) to produce β-amyloid protein (Aβ), is thought to be a feasible therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease. Reticulon (RTN) proteins such as RTN3 have been identified as membrane proteins that interact with BACE1 and inhibit its Aβ-generating activity. In this study, we investigated whether RTN3 can regulate Aβ production in vivo, using transg Read More

Several lines of evidence suggest that the initial events of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) oligomerization and deposition in Alzheimer's disease (AD) involve the interaction of soluble oligomers with neuronal membranes. In this study, we show that Aβ42 oligomers are recruited to lipid rafts, which are ordered membrane microdomains rich in cholesterol and gangliosides, resulting in lipid peroxidation, Ca2+ dyshomeostasis and membr Read More

It was suggested that the gene encoding for sorLa, (SORL1) may affect Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) through a female-specific mechanism. The aims of this study were to confirm the role of gender in modulating the association between SORL1 and LOAD and to ascertain the influence of SORL1 on cognitive impairment, neuropsychiatric symptoms (BPSD) and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Ninety six outpatients with LOAD Read More

Multifunctional mitochondrial enzyme 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 10 plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. However, changes in its expression in the brain or cerebrospinal fluid are not fully specific for this type of dementia. Our previous study revealed that complexes of the enzyme and amyloid β in cerebrospinal fluid could serve as a more specific biomarker of Alzheimer's disease than eith Read More

Increased concentrations of pro-inflammatory blood cytokines and plasma homocysteine (Hcy) are frequently reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hcy appears to have immunomodulating and pro-inflammatory activities. Further, emerging evidence from animal and non-AD human studies implicates Hcy in potentiating the activities of proinflammatory cytokines; Hcy toxicity may also, in part, be mediated by these cytokines. Read More

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a nosological entity or a translational state between normal aging and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). From brain tissue to peripheral blood samples, it is evident that the early markers of metabolic dysfunction observed in AD have also been found in MCI subjects. These observations obtained from MCI and AD subjects leave open the possibility that mitochondrial dysfunction-i Read More

The link between biometals and Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been investigated with a focus on local metal accumulations. In this work, we have looked at systemic metal changes and computed a score (M-score) based on metal disarrangements to discriminate patients with AD from patients with vascular dementia (VaD) and from controls. We measured serum levels of iron, copper, ceruloplasmin, transferrin, and total antioxi Read More

Quetiapine, an atypical antipsychotic drug, is effective in treating the behavioral and psychological symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, it is presently unclear whether quetiapine has beneficial effects on memory and whether the effects of quetiapine on psychological symptoms are associated with its effect on memory in AD. The present study was designed to examine the effect of chronic administration of quetiapin Read More

Background: The societal costs of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) are enormous and pose a great challenge for the health and social care in any society. It is of vital importance to develop and identify cost effective treatment. The aim of the study was to present a hypothetical economic model of Disease Modifying Treatment (DMT) in AD. Methods: A 20 year Markov cohort model of DMT was constructed, based on Swedish care co Read More