The Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease are the two important
neurodegenerative disorders currently under research for various therapeutic
approaches ranging from newer biochemical molecules, plant extracts and food
supplements to highly advanced biotechnological and genetic therapies.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), one of the leading causes of disability in the elderly
population is exponentially rising worldwide. The acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and
memantine, the mainstay of treatment only slow down the disease progression and
provide symptomatic improvement. The cholinesterase inhibitors, rivastigmine and
donepezil apart from improving cognition also delay hospitalization and reduce
behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Other cholinesterase inhibitors
and cholinomimetic targets like muscarinic and nicotinic receptor agonists are in
development. Extensive research in this area in the past few decades has given insight
into the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of the disease. This has led to the
development of certain novel strategies to modify the disease progression and
prognosis. This includes amyloid and tau-based therapeutics, various immunotherapies,
vaccines and food and plant supplements. Other new promising agents under research
are anti-inflammatory drugs, neurotrophic factors and antioxidants. Huntington’s
disease is a rare inherited neurodegenerative disorder producing motor, cognitive and
psychiatric symptoms. A greater understanding of the pathology in the recent past has
led to research into the development of newer therapeutic agents mainly DNA and
RNA based therapies and technologies using gene editing tools.
Several of these putative drugs are in preclinical studies and many of them have failed
to show positive results. In this section, we are going to discuss the approved therapies
for AD and HD currently in use, the status and evidence regarding drugs in various
stages of clinical trial and mention advanced biotechnological and gene therapies under
investigation.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Amyloid, Beta-amyloid, Cholinesterase inhibitors, Disease modifying therapies, Huntingtin, Huntington disease, Secretases, Tau.
