Recent Update on the Alzheimer's Disease Progression, Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder, manifested by the loss of memory and cognitive abilities, behavioral disturbance and progressive impairment of activities of daily life. The sharp rise in the number of AD patients has brought it within the top eight health issues in the world. It is associated with the distribution of misfolded aggregates of protein within the brain. However, Alois Alzheimer initially mentioned that the reduction in brain volume in AD might be associated with the "deposition of a special substance in the cortex". The resulting plaque found in extracellular space in the AD brain and hippocampus region, known as senile plaques, is the characteristic feature underlying Alzheimer's pathology, where the role of amyloid- β (Aβ) peptide formation from proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by secretase enzyme is eminent. Therefore, this review has highlighted the molecular pathophysiology of AD with a variety of available diagnostic and treatment strategies for the management of the disease, with a focus on the advancement toward clinical research to provide new effective and safe tool in the diagnosis, treatment or management of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; amyloid precursor protein; biomarker; neurodegenerative; neuroimaging; secretase enzyme.