Plaque busters: strategies to inhibit amyloid formation in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is a devastating degenerative disorder of the brain for which there is no cure or effective treatment. Although the etiology of Al zheimer's disease is not fully understood, recent research suggests that de position of cerebral amyloid plaques is central to the disease process. The refore, an attractive therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease is to pr event, reduce or reverse amyloid deposition in the brain. Several small che mical compounds, synthetic peptides and natural proteins have been describe d that inhibit amyloid formation or amyloid neurotoxicity in vitro. The eff ect of these and other compounds now needs to be tested in vivo and the abi lity of amyloid inhibitors to halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease i n humans needs to be evaluated.