Therapeutic targets in the biology of Alzheimer's disease

The cause of Alzheimer's disease is closely associated with the accumulatio n of beta -amyloid in the neocortex. The neurochemical factors responsible for precipitating this otherwise normal, soluble protein are contentious. N evertheless, in the absence of any other curative treatment for Alzheimer's disease, the majority of the research effort has focussed on inhibiting th e production of beta -amyloid (using secretase inhibitors) or destroying th e protein (vaccination with synthetic peptide). Both approaches assume that the protein serves no purposive function, In contrast, a new alternative h as recently emerged employing small metal complexing agents that inhibit th e neurotoxic hydrogen peroxide produced by beta -amyloid, and which facilit ate the dissolution of brain amyloid deposits in vivo in transgenic mice. C urrently in clinical trials, this class of agent may interdict the Alzheime r disease process at its most generic biochemical level. Curr Opin Psychiat ry 14:341-348. (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.