Amyloid Beta and the Brain: Where Are We Now?

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is certainly the most devastating and common form of dementia afflicting more than 40 million people worldwide today, with an expected escalation up to 130 million by 2050. Theearly sign of dementia is represented by the difficulty in remembering recentevents but more symptoms emerge as AD inexorably progresses, including confusion, disorientation, severe memory loss and cognitive alterations, mood and behavioural changes, difficulties in reading, writing, speaking, swallowing and walking. These increasing disabilities dramatically affect the daily life of patients but also of their relatives, and have a highly relevant socioeconomic impact, taking into account direct, indirect and intangible costs.

Certainly, in the last 30 years a milestone of AD research has been the discovery of the amyloid β peptide (Aβ) that, since then,has been considered the main cause of the pathology. Thus, the “amyloid hypothesis” soon became the prevailing theoretical model of AD pathophysiology that is still driving the development of pharmacological treatments.