Novel Therapies for Alzheimer's Disease: Potentially Disease Modifying Drugs

The two major neuropathologic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are extracellular Amyloid beta (A beta) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Several additional pathogenic mechanisms likely play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease, including inflammation, oxidative damage, ion disregulation and cholesterol metabolism. A number of compounds have been developed, trying to interfere with the above mentioned altered mechanisms. Conversely to symptomatic drugs available to date, these new compounds are supposed to modify pathological steps leading to AD, thus acting on the evolution of the disease. Some of them are under clinical testing, others are in preclinical phases of development. In this chapter, the main pathogenic steps leading to neurodegeneration will be discussed, together with an update of potentially disease-modifying drugs under testing.