The disease of Alzheimer refers to a particular disorder in human brain. The name of this disease has been derived from a German Physician named Alois Alzheimer. The disease was described for the first time by Dr. Alzheimer in the year of 1906. The current drugs approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are not very effective in preventing or reversing the disease. Researchers, however, have started to find out more advanced ways of treating this fatal disease.
Most of the recent strategies for treating Alzheimer’s disease are aimed at preventing the production of amyloid-beta protein in the body, hindering the process of its aggregation to form plaques, reducing its soluble level, as well as disassembling the plaques which have already formed in the brains of the affected persons. Besides these, a few curative programs of Alzheimer’s disease also aims at lowering the level of phosphorylation of the tau proteins. Some of the important drugs that have been developed through recent researches on the treatment of the diseases are as follows:
Tramiprosate: Tramiprosate is the first drug which has been tested for its effectiveness in decreasing amyloid-beta. It is basically a glycosaminoglycan mimetic which helps in lowering the aggregations of the amyloid-beta fragments in the brains as well as in promoting their clearance from brain. The second phase of the clinical trial of this drug has demonstrated that it is capable of reducing Aβ42 in the patients’ cerebrospinal fluid. In the third phase of this research with Tramiprosate 1052 individuals having Alzheimer’s disease were selected and they were assigned in a random way to receive the drug in different amounts twice a day. Although the results have shown that no matter what the level of drug intake was, most of the selected patients have been capable of tolerating the treatment.
Aβ42 vaccines and several Aβ antibodies: Normally the molecules which help in binding the amyloid-beta peptides can also become quite efficient in drawing this peptide from the brain by some receptor mediator process. Molecules like Heparin, gelsolin and some others are considered to be some effective antibodies that help in reducing the level of accumulation of amyloid beta.
Anti-TNF-alpha drugs: In a number of recent studies, researchers have found a close link between acute events of inflammation in the brain and the onset and progress of the Alzheimer’s disease. A factor that has been found to cause this inflammation is called TNF-alpha. Several nutrients are capable of lowering the level of TNF-alpha in the brains. But researches have suggested that reduction in the level of TNF-alpha is not sufficient enough for preventing this disease and therefore the ultimate need is to discover such drugs that will be able to reverse the disease’s course. Some anti-TNF drugs like Enbrel® have been approved for the treatment of this disease.
Over time Alzheimer’s disease has attracted wide attentions from the medical scientists. Significant development has been made in the understandings and treatment of this fatal disease. But the thing to worry is that no such magnificent outcome has been obtained in preventing or curing this disease.
