There has been an increasing appreciation of the economic and human toll
that age-related disorders take throughout the world. Unprecedented
research efforts have followed, aiming at the understanding and
treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in particular, and this effort has
finally begun to bear fruit - sometimes in surprising ways: Twenty years
ago, the idea that AD involved any sort of inflammatory or immune
component seemed implausible, if considered at all. Now, there are
hundreds of laboratories world-wide that are pursuing basic research in
this area, and multi-site clinical trials are underway to test the
therapeutic potential of common anti-inflammatory drugs in AD.
How this dramatic sea-change came about is made clear in this book, both
through overviews of the field and through focused papers on specific
topics of recent interest. Complement, cytokines and the complex host of
other acute phase reactants are covered, as are summaries of many
epidemiologic and clinical-pathological findings...
that age-related disorders take throughout the world. Unprecedented
research efforts have followed, aiming at the understanding and
treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in particular, and this effort has
finally begun to bear fruit - sometimes in surprising ways: Twenty years
ago, the idea that AD involved any sort of inflammatory or immune
component seemed implausible, if considered at all. Now, there are
hundreds of laboratories world-wide that are pursuing basic research in
this area, and multi-site clinical trials are underway to test the
therapeutic potential of common anti-inflammatory drugs in AD.
How this dramatic sea-change came about is made clear in this book, both
through overviews of the field and through focused papers on specific
topics of recent interest. Complement, cytokines and the complex host of
other acute phase reactants are covered, as are summaries of many
epidemiologic and clinical-pathological findings...