Future avenues for Alzheimer's disease detection and therapy: Liquid biopsy, intracellular signaling modulation, systems pharmacology drug discovery

Abstract

Once first Alzheimer's disease (AD) disease-modifying therapies will become available, global healthcare systems will be challenged by a large-scale demand for clinical and biological screening. Validation and qualification of globally accessible, minimally-invasive, and time-, cost-saving blood-based biomarkers needs to be advanced. Besides established pathophysiological pathways, novel mechanisms (and related candidate biomarkers) – including distinct neuroinflammation pathways (TREM2 and YKL-40), axonal degeneration (neurofilament light chain protein), synaptic dysfunction (neurogranin, synaptotagmin, α-synuclein, and SNAP-25) – may be integrated into an expanding pathophysiological and biomarker matrix and, ultimately, detected and followed-up by comprehensive blood-based liquid biopsy, aligned with the evolving ATN + classification and the precision medicine systems.

Liquid biopsy-based diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms are increasingly employed in Oncology disease-modifying therapies and illustrate an enormous potential for AD and other brain diseases as well.

Newly identified aberrant molecular pathways have been identified as suitable therapeutic targets and are currently investigated by academia/industry-led R&D programs, including the nerve-growth factor pathway in basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, the sigma1 receptor, and the GTPases of the Rho family.

Evidence for a clinical long-term effect on cognitive function and brain health span of cholinergic compounds, drug candidates for repositioning programs, and non-pharmacological multidomain interventions (nutrition, cognitive training, and physical activity) is developing as well.

Ultimately, novel pharmacological paradigms, such as quantitative systems pharmacology-based integrative/explorative approaches, are gaining momentum to optimize drug discovery and accomplish effective pathway-based strategies for precision medicine.