Putting a cap on AD

In the wake of recent Phase III failures of antibodies against b-amyloid to treat Alzheimer's disease, AC Immune S.A. and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne researchers have unveiled an alternative-a class of small molecules that directly block amyloid fibril growth.¹ If the compounds can be made to enter the brain, the approach could arrest the growth of amyloid plaques upstream of the usual target points for antibodies.

Amyloid fibrils are repetitively structured polymers of b-amyloid (Ab), a protein fragment produced in the brains of patients with AD, and are thought to trigger inflammatory activity and neuronal death. Fibrils grow by trapping monomers of Ab at their ends, eventually forming the large amyloid plaques that are the hallmark of AD histopathology...