Calpain inhibition as a potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease

摘要

Alzheimer's disease is a debilitating, progressive, chronic inflammation that influences memory defects and cognitive decline. Although there are some examples of early Alzheimer's disease associated with single-gene abnormalities, the vast majority of patients with the disease exhibit sporadic, perhaps multigenic, pathogenesis. Its frequency increases with age. Thus, in industrialized societies, the frequency of Alzheimer's disease is increasing and is posing a major burden on families and society. Attempts to reverse the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease have met with very limited success, although some experimental procedures and clinical trials now being considered seem to offer some promise. There are two reasons for this relative lack of success-the difficulty in making unequivocal diagnoses in patients during the early phases of the disease, and the paucity of agents that produce a clearly favorable outcome.