Alzheimer disease

Degenerative brain disorder.

It occurs in middle to late adult life, destroying neurons and connections in the cerebral cortex and resulting in significant loss of brain mass. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer disease progresses from short-term memory impairment to further memory loss; deterioration of language, perceptual, and motor skills; mood instability; and, in advanced stages, unresponsiveness, with loss of mobility and control of body functions; death typically ensues in 5–10 years. Originally described in 1906 by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915) with reference to a 55-year-old person and regarded as a presenile dementia, Alzheimer disease is now recognized as accounting for much of the senile dementia once thought normal with aging. The 10% of cases that begin before age 60 result from an inherited mutation. Neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain on autopsy are the primary features used for diagnosis. No cure has been found. Most treatment targets the depression, behavioral problems, and sleeplessness that often accompany the disease.

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▪ pathology

      degenerative brain disorder that develops in mid- to late adulthood. It results in a progressive and irreversible decline in memory and a deterioration of various other cognitive abilities. The disease is characterized by the destruction of nerve cells and neural connections in the cerebral cortex of the brain and by a significant loss of brain mass. The disease was first described in 1906 by Alois Alzheimer, a German neuropathologist.

      Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. The disease develops differently among individuals, suggesting that more than one pathologic process may lead to the same outcome. The first symptom marking the transition from normal aging to Alzheimer disease is forgetfulness. This transitional stage, known as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), is characterized by noticeable dysfunction in memory with retention of normal cognitive ability in judgment, reasoning, and perception. As amnestic MCI progresses to Alzheimer disease, memory loss becomes more severe, and language, perceptual, and motor skills deteriorate. Mood becomes unstable, and the individual tends to become irritable and more sensitive to stress and may become intermittently angry, anxious, or depressed. In advanced stages, the individual becomes unresponsive and loses mobility and control of body functions; death ensues after a disease course lasting from 2 to 20 years.

      About 10 percent of those who develop the disease are younger than 60 years of age. These cases, referred to as early-onset familial Alzheimer disease, result from an inherited genetic mutation. The majority of cases of Alzheimer disease, however, develop after age 60 (late-onset); they usually occur sporadically—i.e., in individuals with no family history of the disease—although a genetic factor has been identified that is thought to predispose these individuals to the disorder.

      The presence of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain are used to diagnose Alzheimer disease in autopsy. Neuritic plaques—also called senile, dendritic, or amyloid plaques—consist of deteriorating neuronal material surrounding deposits of a sticky protein called beta-amyloid. This protein is derived from a larger molecule called amyloid precursor protein, which is a normal component of nerve cells. Neurofibrillary tangles are twisted protein fibres located within nerve cells. These fibres consist of a protein, called tau, that normally occurs in neurons. When incorrectly processed, tau molecules clump together and form tangles. Both neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which also may be found in smaller amounts in the brains of healthy elderly persons, are thought to interfere in some way with normal cellular functioning. However, it is not known whether the plaques and tangles are a cause or a consequence of the disease.

      Other features have been noted in the brains of many persons with Alzheimer disease. One feature is a deficiency of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine; neurons containing acetylcholine play an important role in memory. A second feature is abnormal insulin signaling in the brain. Under normal conditions, insulin binds to insulin receptors, which are expressed in great numbers on the membranes of neurons, to facilitate neuronal uptake of glucose, which the brain depends upon to carry out its many functions. However, neurons in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease have very few, if any, insulin receptors and therefore are resistant to the actions of insulin. As a result of the inability of insulin to bind to the neurons, it accumulates in the blood serum, leading to a condition known as hyperinsulinemia (abnormally high serum levels of insulin). Hyperinsulinemia in the brain is suspected to stimulate inflammation that in turn stimulates the formation of neuritic plaques. Abnormal insulin signaling in the brain has also been associated with nerve cell dysfunction and death, decreased levels of acetylcholine, and decreased levels of transthyretin, a protein that normally binds to and transports beta-amyloid proteins out of the brain.

      Underlying genetic defects have been identified for both late- and early-onset cases of Alzheimer disease. A defect in the gene that codes for amyloid precursor protein may increase the production or deposition of beta-amyloid, which forms the core of neuritic plaques. This gene, however, is responsible for only 2 to 3 percent of all early-onset cases of the disease; the remainder are attributed to two other genes. A defect in the gene that directs production of apolipoprotein E (ApoE), which is involved in cholesterol transport, may be a factor in the majority of late-onset Alzheimer cases. There are three forms of this gene—ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4—one of which, ApoE4, is associated with a higher risk of disease.

      There is no cure for Alzheimer disease; however, there are several therapeutic agents that can be used to slow disease progression or to alleviate symptoms. In roughly 50 percent of patients, the progression of amnestic MCI can be delayed for about one year by drugs called acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (or anticholinesterases (anticholinesterase)). These drugs, which include galantamine, donepezil, rivastigmine, and tacrine (no longer marketed but still available), work by slowing the breakdown of acetylcholine. Common side effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea; a common and serious side effect of tacrine is liver toxicity. Symptoms of Alzheimer disease can be reduced in some patients by the drug memnatine, which decreases abnormal brain activity by blocking the binding of glutamate (an excitatory neurotransmitter) to certain receptors in the brain. While this drug can improve cognition and enable patients to become more engaged in daily activities, it may cause certain patients to become unusually agitated or delusional. Other treatments aim to control the depression, behavioral problems, and insomnia that often accompany the disease.

      Today improved detection and treatments for Alzheimer disease are areas of concentrated scientific investigation. Early detection relies on the discovery of biomarkers (physiological changes specific to and indicative of a disease) and on the development of methods sensitive enough to measure these biomarkers. Several detection methods being developed for Alzheimer disease include blood tests to measure increased expression of a protein present in certain white blood cells and positron emission tomography to detect increased levels of an enzyme in cerebrospinal fluid. There are also a number of experimental drugs for Alzheimer disease in early- and late-stage clinical trials. One drug that has demonstrated some success in preventing cognitive decline in affected patients is tarenflurbil, a gamma-secretase modulator (sometimes referred to as a selective amyloid-beta-42-lowering agent). Tarenflurbil has been shown to reduce levels of amyloid-beta-42 protein, which is thought to be the primary amyloid protein involved in plaque formation. Another drug, methylthioninium chloride (Rember), more commonly known as methylene blue (an organic dye), targets the tau protein of neurofibrially tangles. In clinical trials, methylthioninium chloride either stopped or significantly slowed the progression of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer disease. It is the first drug capable of dissolving tau protein fibres and preventing the formation of neurofibrially tangles.

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