Neuropharmacology

Biography

Biography: Urszula Wojda

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, irreversible neurodegenerative disorder and the most common age-related dementia affecting over 44.4 million people worldwide. With the demographic shift towards aging societies, this number is expected to double every 20 years, what generates an overwhelming socioeconomic burden on society. Before the onset of clinical symptoms, AD develops for tens of years in the preclinical phase and mounting evidence indicates that the effectiveness of therapeutic modalities critically depends on the early diagnosis of AD. Unfortunately, no preclinical diagnostic methods exist and available treatments for AD are only symptomatic. It becomes clear that progress in AD therapy and diagnostics relies to a great extent on elucidation of early molecular AD pathomechanisms, and the identification of novel drug targets and biomarkers of early AD, preferably in easily available diagnostic materials, such as blood. Indeed, in AD some early molecular changes are observed in peripheral cells, such as blood lymphocytes. These include changes in the level of oxidative stress markers and aberrant cell cycle regulation. These findings provide support for the oxidative stress and cell cycle hypotheses of AD pathogenesis and open perspectives for the application of easily accessible blood lymphocytes for the development of new diagnostic methodologies involving early AD biomarkers in lymphocytes.