New approach for treating Alzheimer’s shows success in mouse models

The growing number of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) cases, projected to reach 135 million by 2050, highlights the urgent need for effective therapeutics. Accumulated evidence points to an impairment of the metabolic mechanism in Alzheimer’s patients that develops several decades before the onset of dementia and deterioration of cognitive function. Reduced metabolism results from a dysfunction of the mitochondria, which is responsible for producing most of the energy in the cell but is also involved in cell death, inflammation and immune response.