Perrin Richard J, Fagan Anne M, Holtzman David M
Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, Box 8111, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
Nature. 2009 Oct 15;461(7266):916-22. doi: 10.1038/nature08538.
Alzheimer's disease affects millions of people around the world. Currently, there are no treatments that prevent or slow the disease. Like other neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease is characterized by protein misfolding in the brain. This process and the associated brain damage begin years before the substantial neurodegeneration that accompanies dementia. Studies using new neuroimaging techniques and fluid biomarkers suggest that Alzheimer's disease pathology can be detected preclinically. These advances should allow the design of new clinical trials and early mechanism-based therapeutic intervention.
阿尔茨海默病影响着全球数百万人。目前,尚无预防或减缓该疾病的治疗方法。与其他神经退行性疾病一样,阿尔茨海默病的特征是大脑中的蛋白质错误折叠。这个过程以及相关的脑损伤在痴呆症所伴随的实质性神经退行性变出现的数年前就已开始。使用新的神经成像技术和液体生物标志物的研究表明,阿尔茨海默病的病理变化在临床前就可以被检测到。这些进展应该能够设计新的临床试验和基于早期机制的治疗干预措施。