A General Understanding in Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) normally happens in people with age of 65 or above, and it is the most common cause of dementia. It suggests that the total cost of dementia worldwide will reach US $2 trillion by 2030 or even more, due to more people being aware of it these years and having the ability to take a diagnosis and treatment. This review about AD is mainly focused on neuropathology, symptoms, risk factors, current treatments including traditional pharmacological therapies and newly developed disease modifying therapies (DMTs) of AD. Although the cause of AD has not been fully discovered, it is sure that AD is proved with pathology of the accumulation of 2 aggregates appearing in the brain, which are extracellular Aβ plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tau-containing tangles. DMTs are known to be treatments that have an effect on the pathology of AD. Currently the two approved DMTs (Aducanumab and Lecanemab) are both Aβ-directed monoclonal antibodies, but there are tau-directed therapy trials going on. Although DMTs are only used at an early stage of AD progression and have been only approved very recently, they have less side effects and have more benefits compared with traditional drugs used to relieve decline in cognitive symptoms without altering the pathology of AD.