Changing the course of Alzheimer's disease: anti-amyloid disease-modifying treatments on the horizon.

ABSTRACT: To review the amyloid hypothesis as the predominant mechanistic theory of Alzheimer's disease and update the status of new disease-modifying, anti-amyloid treatments in clinical development.Governmental Web sites and those of professional Alzheimer's disease associations and drug manufacturers were searched for new drugs in development. An English-language search of PubMed (January 2003-January 2006) was conducted using the search terms Alzheimer's disease and amyloid hypothesis and each of the drugs and immunotherapies from the 4 identified classes of anti-amyloid, disease-modifying therapies.Studies and reports were selected on the basis of recent publication, adequate methodology, and completeness of data.Immunotherapy, ?-secretase inhibitors, selective neurotoxic aggregated 42-amino acid peptide subspecies of amyloid ? (A???)-lowering agents (tarenflurbil), inhibitors of amyloid aggregation (tramiprosate), and statins show promise in clinical trials. Safety remains an important factor. Disease-modifying drugs that specifically target the amyloid cascade and do not interact with essential biological pathways are expected to possess a lower rate of unintended adverse events.Agents that selectively target A??? production (e.g., tarenflurbil), block A? aggregation (e.g., tramiprosate), or enhance alpha-secretase activity (statins) offer hope for disease modification and prevention and do not appear to interfere with other biological pathways.Discovery of safe and effective disease-modifying therapies will usher in a new age of Alzheimer's disease treatment.

SUBMITTER: Christensen DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1894844 | biostudies-other | 2007

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other