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Alzheimer's disease


Ten percent of Americans over 65 years of age (5.1 million individuals) suffer from Alzheimer's disease (AD). By 2050, aging baby boomers will cause that number to reach 16 million!

AD first presents with forgetfulness but soon develops into a more severe and debilitating disorder including: confusion, personality changes, anxiousness, irritability, and severe memory and intellectual disturbances. Eventually patients no longer function normally. The average Alzheimer's patient dies about 8 to 12 years after the initial diagnosis. It is particularly difficult for family and friends to watch helplessly as the patient loses all sense of identity and their place in the world.

AD symptoms develop because brain cells (neurons) are decimated. Why are neurons dying? Part of the answer lies in brain changes observed in Alzheimer's patients, including the characteristic "plaques" and "tangles." Plaques are dense and toxic clumps of proteins that collect around neurons. Tangles occur when fibers inside neurons become twisted, also causing neurons to die.  

Precisely why plaques and tangles develop or why some individuals but not others are predisposed to AD are largely unanswered questions. There are no cures for AD. Nor can we slow disease progression.

However, we at the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center are optimistic in our fight against AD. Progress is being made on several fronts:

  • Drug discovery.  We are actively developing drug-like compounds to help accelerate the development of new treatments for AD. Several AD drug discovery projects have advanced to the stage that soon we will seek biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners to further develop these projects. For details, click here.

  • Understanding the disease.  We’ve known for many years that there is a bad actor in Alzheimer’s called Abeta. A recent article in the journal Nature (February 09) described how a part of the APP molecule called N-APP triggers death and degeneration of neurons. A biotech company has figured out how it triggers that degeneration and is now looking for drugs to block that mechanism. This work further validates the amyloid hypothesis proposed by Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center co-founder and investigator, Dr. Dennis Selkoe.

  • Testing new treatments.  The Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center is supporting several clinical trials and pilot projects testing new approaches to prevent and slow AD progression.

  • Biomarker Discovery.  In 2008, the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center launched an important AD biomarker program to discover methods for early diagnosis and ways to monitor disease progression. For a description of the Center's Biomarkers Discovery program, click here.

The Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center is dedicated to accelerating the discovery of effective treatments and cures for Alzheimer's disease. For information about our many important initiatives and how to support our approach, click here. For information about coping with Alzheimer's disease, the Alzheimer's Association website is a very good place to start:  Alzheimer's Association