Employing New Cellular Therapeutic Targets for Alzheimers Disease: A Change for the Better?

Zhao   Zhong   Chong; Faqi      Li; Kenneth      Maiese

doi:10.2174/1567202052773508

Abstract

Alzheimers disease is a progressive disorder that results in the loss of cognitive function and memory. Although traditionally defined by the presence of extracellular plaques of amyloid-β peptide aggregates and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, more recent work has begun to focus on elucidating the complexities of Alzheimers disease that involve the generation of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. Apoptotic processes that are incurred as a function of oxidative stress affect neuronal, vascular, and monocyte derived cell populations. In particular, it is the early apoptotic induction of cellular membrane asymmetry loss that drives inflammatory microglial activation and subsequent neuronal and vascular injury. In this article, we discuss the role of novel cellular pathways that are invoked during oxidative stress and may potentially mediate apoptotic injury in Alzheimers disease. Ultimately, targeting new avenues for the development of therapeutic strategies linked to mechanisms that involve inflammatory microglial activation, cellular metabolism, cell-cycle regulation, G-protein regulated receptors, and cytokine modulation may provide fruitful gains for both the prevention and treatment of Alzheimers disease.

Keywords: amyloid, akt, caspases, erythropoietin, forkhead transcription factors, metabotropic, microglia, nicotinamide, wnt