Current and future challenges in research into Alzheimer's disease

The ageing of populations in developed societies has become associated with a rise in cases of neurodegenerative diseases, and especially of Alzheimer's disease. The high number of cases and the cost associated with these illnesses represents a major challenge for society in the 21st century. It is indisputable that numerous advances have taken place in the field of Alzheimer's over the past two decades. Today, we know what lesions are found in the nervous system, and we can research this disease by means of sophisticated tools such as advanced microscopy techniques, genetically modified animals and stem cells. Nevertheless, there are still numerous unanswered questions that prevent us from finding effective treatments that can cure or delay Alzheimer's. Studies over the past five years have revealed that the disease is more complex than we had believed. The disease has an incubation phase of several decades on which multiple genetic and environmental factors act, and their interaction determines when the symptoms will appear. Though the lesions characteristic of the disease have been known for over a century, we still do not know what the exact causes are that originate them. Furthermore, a general consensus exists that most of the studies have applied the treatment in stages that are much too late, when there are few chances of improvement. The scientific community now finds itself at a crossroads: should it apply treatments at very early stages of the disease, even though to do this it is necessary to be able to diagnose it when the symptoms are still very mild. In this lecture, we will be looking back over some of the advances and challenges facing clinics and researchers with respect to this disease, which has already become known as the disease of the 21st century.