A Survey of Peptides with Effective Therapeutic Potential in Alzheimer's Disease Rodent Models or in Human Clinical Studies

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia. Today, only palliative therapies are available. The pathological hallmarks of AD are the presence of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques, mainly composed of the amyloid-beta peptide (A beta), in the brains of the patients. Several lines of evidence suggest that the increased production and/or decreased cleavage of A beta and subsequent accumulation of A beta oligomers and aggregates play a fundamental role in the disease progress. Therefore, substances which bind to A beta and influence aggregation thereof are of great interest. A wide range of A beta binding peptides were investigated to date for therapeutic purposes. Only very few were shown to be effective in rodent AD models or in clinical studies. Here, we review those peptides and discuss their possible mechanisms of action.