This document provides an overview of Alzheimer's disease and its treatments. It discusses that Alzheimer's is a progressive form of dementia and the most common cause of dementia. Currently, there are no cures and treatments are only symptomatic. The document outlines risk factors like genetics and discusses potential causes like the amyloid precursor protein and cholesterol metabolism. It also explains current drug treatments that aim to improve symptoms like cholinesterase inhibitors and Memantine. Ongoing research is still needed to find more effective treatments and potentially a cure for this disease.

1. AN OVERVIEW OF
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND
EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS
PRESENTED BY KAITLYN CLARK
APRIL 25, 2017

2. WHAT IS ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE?
• Progressive increase in
memory loss
• Loss of functions and abilities
that involve high levels of
intellectual thought

3. DEMOGRAPHICS OF THIS DEMENTIA
• Most prevalent form of
dementia
• 6th most common
cause of death in
United States
• 81% those diagnosed in
United States age 75 or
older

4. THE URGENCY OF FINDING EFFECTIVE
TREATMENTS
• Aging of the world’s population
• Expected increase in prevalence by 41.6% to
61.8% in 10 US states from 2016 to 2025
• Alzheimer’s Association’s surveys in 2016
showed that individuals who care for a person
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease spent an
average of $5,155 out of pocket every year to
take care of their friend or relative

6. SYMPTOMS OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
• Memory loss and changes in the typical
behavior of the individual diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease
• Depression and behavioral changes could
be occurring first, sequentially, before
symptoms of increasing memory loss occur
• Frontal variant of Alzheimer’s is, primarily,
known as the changes in behavioral or
dysexecutive deficits in a person
• Less frontal atrophy and more posterior
involvement in their brain activity

7. CAUSES OF ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE
No exact set of gene mutations or polymorphisms believed to specifically
transmit Alzheimer’s disease

8. CAUSES OF EARLY-ONSET
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: APP
• First three genes found to be associated with
early-onset Alzheimer’s disease: APP, PSI, and
PS2
• Gene APP, located on chromosome 21, have
shown that the mutations that occur in APP
cause changes in the proteolytic cleavage of
the gene closer to amyloidogenic pathways
• Codes for amyloid precursor protein
• Neurotoxic isoform of beta-amyloid, Aβ42

9. CAUSES OF EARLY-ONSET
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: PSEN 1
• PSEN1 is a gene located on
chromosome 14
• Codes for presenilin 1
• Shown to contain Alzheimer’s
disease-causing mutations that lead
to an overaccumulation of Aβ42 and
an aggressive form of Alzheimer’s
disease

10. CAUSES OF EARLY-ONSET
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: PSEN2
• Gene that is strongly homologous to PSEN1
and is also linked to the transmission of
Alzheimer’s disease, known as PSEN2
• Codes for presenilin 2
• Highly variable ages in which the
Alzheimer’s disease is onset
• Could be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
disease as early as in their 40s and as late
in their life as their 80s

11. CAUSES OF LATE-ONSET ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE: APOE
• At least 20 genes are associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s
disease
• Apolipoprotein E synthesized by astrocytes that are involved
in lipid transport, storage, and metabolism, such as
cholesterol
• People who have one or even two copies of e4 form of
apolipoprotein E have a greater risk of developing
Alzheimer’s disease than people who have no copies of the
e4 form of apolipoprotein E

12. I. APOE
Form
Percentage
e2/e2 0.5
e2/e3 11
e2/e4 2
e3/e3 61
e3/e4 23
e4/e4 2
*One form of the APOE gene is
inherited from each parent.
People with one or two copies
of e4 are at higher risk of
developing Alzheimer’s than
individuals who do not have a
copy of e4. Created from data
from Raber et al.41

14. CAUSES OF LATE-ONSET ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE: CHOLESTEROL METABOLISM AND
TRAFFICKING
• Cholesterol regulates how much
of amyloid Aβ is produced in and
removed from the human body
• Drug treatments can be
produced to increase the amount
of cholesterol in the human body
that will regulate the over-
producing amounts of amyloid
Aβ42

15. TREATMENTS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
MUSICAL ASSOCIATION
• Only treatments that exist to battle Alzheimer’s disease are
symptomatic
• Musical association is one form of treatment that may improve
the verbal episodic memory
• Music may improve the recollection of specific content in the
memories of those with Alzheimer’s disease
• Association of music with text aides those diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease in reciting the text back

16. TREATMENTS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
MUSIC THERAPY
• Music has also been suggested many times as an intervention
treatment for the some of the behavioral symptoms of those
diagnosed with severe Alzheimer’s disease, such as apathy,
withdrawal, depression, and agitation

17. TREATMENTS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
DRUG TREATMENTS - CHOLINESTERASE
INHIBITORS
• Work to counterbalance the interference of neurotransmitters
• Donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine
• Believed that cholinergic systems are affected in the early stage
of Alzheimer’s, causing the person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
disease to lose acetylcholine neurons and enzymatic function of
acetylcholine synthesis and degradation
• Contributes to the loss of memory and cognitive and noncognitive
functions
• Improve cognitive functions, daily living activities, and global
function of people who have been diagnosed with mild to
moderate levels of Alzheimer’s disease

18. TREATMENTS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
DRUG TREATMENTS - MEMANTINE
• N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist
• Moderate to severe levels of Alzheimer’s disease
• Believed to protect neurons in the brain from excitotoxicity
• Has shown to improve cognition, daily living activities,
behaviors, and even behavioral and psychological symptoms of
dementia
• Dizziness, headaches, confusion, and agitation

19. TREATMENTS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
DRUG TREATMENTS – 3APS
• Glycosaminoglycan 3-amino-
1-propaneeosulfonic acid
• Amyloid aggregation inhibitor
agent that reaches phase III of
amyloid deposition
• Prevents the overaccumulation
of the neurotoxic, less soluble
amyloid, 𝐴β42

20. FUTURE WORK AND STUDIES
• Still no cure for Alzheimer’s disease
• Molecular genetic profiling and
methods in which musical associations
can be used to train the human
memory to recall information
• Financial and health problems that
come with Alzheimer’s disease are
only going to grow
• Costed $480,000,000 to national
institutes of health research funding in

22. Thank you