Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible and progressive
neurodegenerative disease, the manifestation of which primarily leads to progressive
dementia and ultimately results in death. Currently, 5.5 million people are afflicted
with this disease in the USA alone while 50 million are suffering from this disease
across the world. The disease is recognised by two pathological markers viz. senile
plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). About 50% of the population beyond the
age group of over 85 years exhibit symptoms of AD since the majority of cases of AD
are sporadic or idiopathic and only 5-10 percent cases are genetic. At present, there is
no effective treatment for this disease and most of the drug trials used to control or stop
the disease have failed as they are directed to target symptoms and not the cause of the
disease. The therapeutic agents that are most commonly used for AD include
cholinesterase inhibitors (CI), which enhance cholinergic neurotransmission. Diagnosis
of AD still poses a significant challenge regarding the lack of information about the
manifestation as well as the status viz. progression of this disease. However, there is
enough optimism to believe that we will soon be able to develop biomarkers which
would help us to accurately detect the progression of the disease. Therefore, the present
chapter will provide an extensive overview of the disease and focus on possible ways
to develop and formulate effective strategies to control this dreadful disease. The
purpose of this citation is to guide researchers and personnel associated with
pharmaceutical sciences into a new domain of investigations. This paper depicts the
present scenario and projects the future challenges posed by Alzheimer’s disease.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Alpha Secretase, Amyloid precursor protein,
Beta amyloid, Beta Secretase Biomarkers, cholinesterase, Gamma Secretase,
INNOTEST, Neurofibrillary tangle, Neurogranin, Tau.
