Past, present, and future directions for Alzheimer research

To understand the current thinking and future research directions in Alzhei mer disease (AD), it is essential to examine the breadth of research into A D. AD was identified as a distinct disease process early in this century an d research into its etiology and treatment has a short, but active, history . This paper emphasizes past, present, and future biomedical research for t he goal of stimulating research to solve some of the unanswered questions t o ultimately help the Victims of Alzheimer disease. The "hot" topics today for biomedical researchers include early diagnosis, presymptomatic markers, the role of presenilins. amyloid protein precursor processing, and continu ed exploration for genetic and environmental risk factors.