Identifying New Immunomodulatory Targets for Alzheimers and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

ABSTRACT Alzheimerandapos s diseaseADand other neurodegenerative diseases are a major cause of death and disability for older Americanswith a US prevalence of more thanmillionAs AD currently cannot be cured or preventedthere is an urgent need for effective treatments targeting underlying disease processesA major roadblock in treatment development has been the lack of good targetsAlthough pathologically importantamyloid beta plaques and tau tangles are not easily druggableand clinical trials of therapeutics targeting these proteins directly have largely failedRecent genome wide association studies have identified a link between a growing number of modulatory proteins on neuroimmune cellsparticularly on the surface of microglia and astrocytesthat are linked to the risk of developing ADThe identification of new proteins with neuroimmunomodulatory activities could enable an entirely new generation of therapeutic targets with the potential to treatdelayand possibly even prevent AD and other neurodegenerative diseases PROJECT NARRATIVE The human health significance of the proposed work is the identification of new targets on neuroimmune cells for treating Alzheimerandapos s diseaseADand other neurodegenerative diseasesCurrentlyno drug on the market targets the underlying disease process of ADand therapeutics against traditional targets in AD have repeatedly failed in late stage clinical trialsThese factors highlight an urgent need to identify new therapeutic targets in ADMost importantlythese new targets should be relevant in the earlyasymptomatic stages of disease where intervention can slowstopor prevent disease progressionNeuroimmune cell modulators offer this potential