Three Molecular Subtypes of Alzheimer's Disease Identified

A study in Science Advances details three major molecular subtypes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) that could be biomarkers that lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention, reports the Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network . Analysis exposed subtype-specific molecular drivers in disease progression, and identified correspondence between them and the existing AD disease animal modules used for mechanistic studies and testing candidate therapeutics. The researchers said this may partly explain why medications that succeeded in specific mouse models were not successful in human trials. The investigators analyzed 1,543 samples across five brain regions in two cohorts of patients with AD and normal controls. In both analyses, Alzheimer's subtypes were separate from the patient's age and disease stage and replicated across multiple brain regions. The disease's two neuropathological hallmarks are tau neurofibrillary and amyloid-beta plaque, but they are only significantly worse in some subtypes. Bin Zhang at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said, "These findings lay down a foundation for determining more effective biomarkers for early prediction of AD, studying causal mechanisms of AD, developing next-generation therapeutics for AD, and designing more effective and targeted clinical trials, ultimately leading to precision medicine for AD."