Potent therapeutic targets for treatment of Alzheimer's disease: Amyloid degrading enzymes

In an aging society in the world, dementia that leads to pain in patients and their families has become a common disease in our lives. Among dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most commonly shown disease. Various causes of the disease have been proposed and amyloid hypothesis insists that the toxic amyloid-beta (A beta) species could be the major risk factor of the onset and progression of AD. In this perspective, clearance of A beta species from the brain by regulating the activity of amyloid degrading enzymes (ADE), including neprilysin and matrix metalloproteinases, could be a potent treatment for AD. Therefore, the structures and functions of these enzymes along with biological molecules in the brain would be important to understand the pathogenesis of AD and develop an effective medication for the disease. In this review, multiple ADE with biological molecules which could affect the activities and/or expression of the enzymes are summarized.

Automated summary

Dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease, has become a common disease in an aging society. Clearing toxic Aβ species from the brain by regulating the activity of amyloid degrading enzymes could be an effective treatment for AD.