Reviewing the Current State of Immunotherapy for Alzheimer ' s Disease

After long years of failure, the treatment of Alzheimer's disease through clearance of protein aggregates in the brain has been reinvigorated by minor degrees of success. The results are poor in the grand scheme of things, and come with risk of severe side-effects, but once a disease can be at least slowed, there is a renewed interest in improving on that starting point. It remains the case that the contributing causes of Alzheimer's disease remain poorly understood, however, and it may turn out to be much more preventable than thought. Assays to detect the earliest stages of the condition are now demonstrated, and promising work suggests that persistent viral infection may be an important factor that could be addressed via more widespread use of existing antiviral therapies. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease characterized by cognitive impairment with few therapeutic options. Amyloid-β (Aβ), tau, and neuroinflammation are immunotherapy targets focused on by industries for AD intervention. Passive immunotherapy targeting Aβ was launched decades ago and has reached milestone progress with full approval of lecanemab by the FDA very recently. While the development of monoclonal antibody (mAb) drugs targeting tau or immune modulators is at an early stage, several preclinical and clinical studies have shown promising results. Here, we review characteristics, clinical trial data, and mechanisms of action for mAbs targeting key p...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs