Precision pharmacology for Alzheimer ’s disease

Publication date: Available online 16 February 2018 Source:Pharmacological Research Author(s): Harald Hampel, Andrea Vergallo, Lisi Flores Aguilar, Norbert Benda, Karl Broich, A. Claudio Cuello, Jeffrey Cummings, Bruno Dubois, Howard J. Federoff, Massimo Fiandaca, Remy Genthon, Marion Haberkamp, Eric Karran, Mark Mapstone, George Perry, Lon S. Schneider, Lindsay A. Welikovitch, Janet Woodcock, Filippo Baldacci, Simone Lista The complex multifactorial nature of polygenic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) presents significant challenges for drug development. AD pathophysiology is progressing in a non-linear dynamic fashion across multiple systems levels – from molecules to organ systems – and through adaptation, to compensation, and decompensation to systems failure. Adaptation and compensation maintain homeostasis: a dynamic equilibrium resulting from the dynamic non-linear interaction between genome, epigenome, and environment. An individual vulnerability to stressors exists on the basis of individual triggers, drivers, and thresholds accounting for the initiation and failure of adaptive and compensatory responses. Consequently, the distinct pattern of AD pathophysiology in space and time must be investigated on the basis of the individual biological makeup. This requires the implementation of systems biology and neurophysiology to facilitate Precision Medicine (PM) and Precision Pharmacology (PP). The regulation of several processes at multiple levels of c...
Source: Pharmacological Research - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research