Pathobiology of Alzheimer's Disease

This new edition provides comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the most important recent advances in the genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cell biological studies of Alzheimer's disease. The chapters explore the physiology of polypeptides involved in early-onset and late-onset gene variants, degradation and clearance, and the role of tau. An emerging and exciting theme in the field is the seeding and spreading of toxic, misfolded protein species in the CNS; selected chapters review the nature of these toxic species and the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive disease pathogenesis. Additional chapters examine the development of organoids to test mechanisms, role of BDNF and neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s models, roles of peripheral immune cells, and the microbiome on modulation of Alzheimer's-like pathologies and neuroinflammation. The book also covers what are perhaps the most compelling new findings over the past decade: the identification of genetic variants in genes involved in innate immunity that predispose individuals to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Also, the new edition covers the data from animal models and humans that have led to the emergence of key biomarkers and clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease that have real promise for changing the course of disease.