Novel Therapeutic Targets Based on Biology of Aging Show Promise for Alzheimer's Disease

A study published in Neurology found a scientific approach to investigating therapeutic targets based on the biology of aging is becoming increasingly credible as a way of preventing and treating Alzheimer's, reports News-Medical . "Decades of research have revealed common processes that are relevant to understanding why the aging brain is vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease," notes Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Founding Executive Director Howard Fillit. "New therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease will come from this understanding of the effects of aging on the brain." Fillit suggests the most effective Alzheimer's treatment will be combination therapy, which he says is "the standard of care for other major diseases of aging, such as heart disease, cancer, and hypertension." Fillit says although clinical trials to remove or lower the production of beta-amyloid have been largely unsuccessful in altering the progression of Alzheimer's, scientists gained valuable information from those trials, even if they did not immediately lead to treatments. He also suggests recent clinical trials imply that difficulties with clearance of beta-amyloid may yet be significant. "It is currently not known if these classic pathologies (amyloid and tau) represent valid drug targets and if these targets alone are sufficient to treat Alzheimer's disease," Fillit acknowledges. "Targeting the common biological processes of aging may be an effective approach to developing therapies to prevent or delay age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's."