Approaches to Amyloid Therapies for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Recognized as the most common of the neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects greater than 18 million people worldwide and is predicted to become the largest socioeconomic burden of the twenty‐first century. The underlying mechanism of Alzheimer's disease is as yet unknown, but the growing body of pathophysiologic evidence is beginning to point to two main causes, the formation of β‐amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. This review will cover approaches to disease modification that are based on the amyloid hypothesis; that being, the prevention of the accumulation, aggregation, and deposition of β‐amyloid peptide (Aβ) monomers, leading first to multiple oligomeric species and then to fibrils and ultimately senile plaques, is the center of focus for an approach to disease modification. There is a wealth of evidence to implicate this peptide and its subsequent aggregation in the etiology of the disease and approaches, both small molecule and biopharmaceutical, to prevent its accumulation have been the subject of much research. The vast majority of this research over the last decade has been, and continues to be, focused on these disease‐modifying, antiamyloidogenic approaches to AD. It is this subject, and the various approaches, past and present to amelioration of AD through the various agents being explored, that will be the focus of this chapter.