Defective Insulin Signaling: A Common Feature of Diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease?

摘要

Obesity and aging are at the root of considerable public health concern in many developed countries: In many industrialized nations, there has been a marked increase in the prevalence of obesity over the last several decades, a trend that is occurring in tandem with the "graying" of many of the same populations. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased in parallel with trends in obesity; a similar pattern is occurring for both mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in relation to the growing number of older adults in many developed countries. There has been some research from Bomfin et al. suggesting a link between diabetes and decrements in cognition, including AD. Insulin resistance (IR) is a cardinal feature of type 2 diabetes, and there is evidence supporting the idea that IR is present in AD. Findings from recent studies suggesting that brain insulin signaling is defective in AD raise obvious questions regarding the possibility that insulin signaling defects may play a role in the development of both diabetes and AD.