Neuroprotection in Alzheimer's Disease - Chapter 2: Neural Regeneration as a Disease-Modifying Therapeutic Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-dependent neurodegenerative disorder, which contributes significantly to the health care burden particularly in the developed world. As yet, there is no effective treatment for AD. Besides the presence of amyloid ? plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, AD is characterized by neurogenic and synaptic failure leading to cognitive decline. Neural regeneration-based strategy represents a highly promising therapeutic approach for AD. Shifting the balance from neurodegeneration to neural regeneration with neurotrophic small-molecule peptide mimetics has shown promise in the animal models of AD. Our work with a ciliary neurotrophic factor-based neurogenic and neurotrophic peptidergic compound has shown that neural regeneration-based therapeutic approach can be disease modifying for AD. Human clinical trials are warranted to validate the efficacy of neural regeneration-based approach for AD.