On the possible relevance of bottom-up pathways in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's dementia.

On the possible relevance of bottom-up pathways in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's dementia. Curr Top Med Chem. 2020 May 13;: Authors: Leblhuber F, Steiner K, Geisler S, Fuchs D, Gostner JM Abstract Dementia is an increasing health problem in older aged populations worldwide. Age-related changes in the brain can be observed decades before the first symptoms of cognitive decline appear. Cognitive impairment has chronic inflammatory components, which can be enhanced by systemic immune activation. Mutual interferences between inflammation and cognitive deficits are suggested. Signs of an activated immune system namely increases in the serum concentrations of soluble biomarkers such as neopterin or accelerated tryptophan breakdown along the kynurenine axis develop in a significant proportion of patients with dementias and correlate with the course of the disease, and they also have predictive value. Changes in biomarker concentrations are reported to be associated with systemic infections with pathogens such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) and bacterial content in saliva. More recently, the possible influence of microbiome composition on Alzheimer's dementia (AD) pathogenesis has been raised. These observations suggest that brain pathology is not the sole factor determining the pathogenesis of AD. Interestingly, patients with AD display drastic changes in markers of immune activation in the circulation and in the cerebrospinal fluid. Other data...
Source: Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Curr Top Med Chem Source Type: research