Hurdles and Strategies in Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting about 55 million people globally. Research in AD has progressed extensively over the years and several therapeutic strategies have been developed, demonstrating great potential; however, there are many hurdles in the way of translating them into effective AD treatment. There are five major factors, which may or may not work co-dependently toward causing/propagating AD-amyloid-β plaque formation, tau tangle formation/intracellular accumulation, cholinergic deficiency, neuroinflammation, and toxic neuronal environment. Treatment strategies for AD have tried exploiting all of these causative mechanisms through different approaches. This chapter provides a peek into all the strategies developed for AD, corresponding to the respective molecular mechanisms of the disease. Further, the hurdles associated with each strategy are also highlighted, thus, portraying the entire current scenario of AD treatment.