Emerging Microglia Biology Defines Novel Therapeutic Approaches for Alzheimer's Disease.

Neuron

German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Munich, 81377 Munich, Germany; Chair of Metabolic Biochemistry, Biomedical Center (BMC), Faculty of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 81377 Munich, Germany; Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), 81377 Munich, Germany. Electronic address:

Published: December 2020

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is currently untreatable, and therapeutic strategies aimed to slow cognitive decline have not yet been successful. Many of these approaches have targeted the amyloid cascade, indicating that novel treatment strategies are required. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified a number of risk factors in genes expressed in microglia, underscoring their therapeutic potential in neurodegeneration. In this review, we discuss how the recently defined functions of these AD risk genes can be targeted therapeutically to modulate microglial cell state and slow the progression of AD. Antibody-mediated stimulation of the triggering receptor of myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is on the forefront of these candidate therapeutic approaches based on a combination of compelling human genetics and emerging preclinical data. This and other approaches to modify microglial function are a topic of intensive study and provide an opportunity for innovative AD treatments, which may be applied alone or potentially in combination with classical anti-amyloid therapies.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.09.029DOI Listing

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