Secretases as targets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the major cause of dementia in most developed countries. Treatment to modify this disease is currently unavailable, but needed urgently. The amyloid-cascade hypothesis proposes that amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), found in the plaques characteristic of AD, plays an early, critical role in the disease process. It follows that preventing the generation of Aβ could be therapeutically useful in all cases of AD. Inhibition of the secretases that produce Aβ from a large precursor protein is the main approach to achieve this goal.