Complications (1)
- Alzheimer's: Managing sleep problems
Coping and support (3)
- Caregiving: Tips for long-distance caregivers
- Caregiver stress: Tips for taking care of yourself
- Alzheimer's: Planning for the holidays
Definition (1)
- Early-onset Alzheimer's: When symptoms begin before 65
Prevention (1)
- Home safety tips: Preparing for Alzheimer's caregiving
Risk factors (2)
- Diabetes and Alzheimer's linked
- Alzheimer's genes: Are you at risk?
Symptoms (3)
- Memory loss: When to seek help
- Alzheimer's stages: How the disease progresses
- Alzheimer's or depression: Could it be both?
Tests and diagnosis (4)
- Diagnosing Alzheimer's: An interview with a Mayo Clinic specialist
- Sharing Alzheimer's diagnosis: Tips for caregivers
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- see all in Tests and diagnosis
Treatments and drugs (3)
- Alzheimer's: 7 tips for medical visits
- Alzheimer's: Drugs help manage symptoms
- Alzheimer's treatments: What's on the horizon?
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Alzheimer's treatments: What's on the horizon?
Despite many promising leads, new treatments for Alzheimer's are slow to emerge.
By Mayo Clinic staffAlzheimer's treatments currently work by temporarily improving symptoms of memory loss and problems with thinking and reasoning. These Alzheimer's treatments boost performance of specialized biochemicals that carry information from one brain cell to another. But they don't stop the underlying decline and death of brain cells. As more cells die, Alzheimer's continues to progress.
Many experts are cautiously hopeful about developing Alzheimer's treatments that can stop or significantly delay the progression of Alzheimer's. A growing understanding of how the disease disrupts the brain has led to potential Alzheimer's treatments that short-circuit fundamental disease processes. Future Alzheimer's treatments may focus on combinations of medications like those used for many cancers and AIDS rather than a single "magic bullet." The following treatment options are among the strategies currently being studied.
Taking aim at plaques
Some of the new Alzheimer's treatments furthest along in development target plaques — microscopic clumps of the protein beta-amyloid. Plaques have long been considered an Alzheimer's disease hallmark. Two strategies aimed at beta-amyloid include immunizing the body against it and blocking its production:
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Immunization strategies may prevent beta-amyloid from clumping into plaques and help the body clear it from the brain. The first Alzheimer's vaccine to reach clinical trials mobilized a person's own immune system to attack beta-amyloid. Researchers stopped this study ahead of time when some participants developed acute brain inflammation. Although the trial ended before researchers could fully assess the vaccine's effectiveness, the study demonstrated that beta-amyloid immunization could have a powerful impact on the brain.
Most current immunization studies focus on administering antibodies against beta-amyloid from outside sources instead of ramping up a person's own immune system. One large research effort is exploring the value of intravenous (IV) infusions of a product derived from donated blood. This product contains naturally occurring anti-amyloid antibodies from the donors. Several other studies are investigating laboratory-engineered (monoclonal) antibodies.
- Production blockers may reduce the amount of beta-amyloid formed in the brain. Research has shown that beta-amyloid is produced from a "parent protein" in two steps performed by two different enzymes. Several experimental drugs aim to block the activity of the second enzyme. The first enzyme may also be a future target.
Keeping tau from tangling
A vital brain cell transport system collapses when a protein called tau twists into microscopic fibers called tangles — another hallmark brain abnormality of Alzheimer's. Keeping tau from forming tangles offers another potential drug target. One medication currently under investigation is taken as a nasal spray.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Prins ND, et al. Can novel therapeutics halt the amyloid cascade? Alzheimer's Research and Therapy. 2010;2:5.
- Strobel G. Geneva: Biomarker news morsels amid immunotherapy review. Alzheimer Research Forum. http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=2409. Accessed June 16, 2010.
- Romero K, et al. The Coalition Against Major Diseases: Developing tools for an integrated drug development process for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 2009;86:365.
- 2008 Progress report on Alzheimer's disease. National Institute on Aging. http://www.nia.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/324E10CB-0E01-46F0-AE85-D2E8A5D53D27/0/NIA_2008_ProgressRpt_1.pdf. Accessed June 18, 2010.
- Press D, et al. Future directions in dementia treatments. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 18, 2010.
- Cognitive health in older adults. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/professionals_and_researchers_14296.asp. Accessed June 18, 2010.
- 2008: The year in Alzheimer science. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/national/documents/2008_YIS_complete_FIN.pdf. Accessed June 18, 2010.
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