The past, present, and future of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search or quantitative data synthesis
PubMed 29225305 · doi:10.2183/pjab.93.048
What was done
This review summarizes approximately 15 years of disease-modifying therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on the amyloid hypothesis. It reviews mechanisms aiming to reduce amyloid-β production (γ-secretase inhibitors, γ-secretase modulators, β-secretase inhibitors), approaches to eliminate accumulated amyloid-β (active and passive immunotherapy), emerging tau-targeted strategies, and early interventional trials initiated in preclinical stages of AD.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical findings, trial counts, or statistical results. It qualitatively reports that despite candidate therapies developed over 15 years targeting amyloid-β and tau, successful disease-modifying treatments had not yet emerged, leading to a paradigm shift focusing on preclinical intervention and prevention.
Why it matters
It outlines the historical translational challenges of amyloid- and tau-based therapeutics in symptomatic AD, framing the clinical pivot toward earlier intervention before overt cognitive decline begins.
Limits
This is a narrative review with no systematic search criteria, meta-analytic pooling, or risk of bias assessment. The abstract reports no quantitative data, sample sizes, or specific trial outcome comparisons.
Cited by
- context Approximately 90% of what is known about Alzheimer's disease has been discovered only within the past 15 years.