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T H E C D C E S T I M A T E S 5 m i l l ion Americans have Alzheimer's. Without the development of eŠ ective treatments, the number of people with the disease may rise to 13.8 million by 2050, according to a 2013 Neurology study. The hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology, which are visible under the microscope and through use of PET imaging, include amyloid plaques and neurofi brillary tau tangles. W hile pa lliative therapies, such as donepezi l a nd riva stig mine, may be prescribed to delay symptom onset, no treatments that slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease patholog y cur- rently exist. BUILDING ON DECADES OF RESEARCH During the past 20 to 25 years, research- ers have sought preventive or curative therapies for Alzheimer's. The fi rst drugs developed target amyloid plaques and essentia lly test what is known as the amyloid hypothesis. "Many, but not all, researchers believe that accumulation of a particular form of beta-amyloid protein plays a role in an initiating event that ultimately leads to the microscopic brain abnormalities and memory and thinking problems we see in individuals with Alzheimer's disease," says Eric M. Reiman, MD, Executive Director of t he Ba nner A lzheimer 's Institute in Phoenix. "The thinking is that through one mechanism or another, there is an increase in individual beta-amyloid peptides, or proteins, and that, in the case of Alzheimer's disease, the form of this protein and its 42 amino acids aggregates with other amyloid-beta 42 proteins in what we refer to as soluble oligomers and insoluble fi brils, or plaques." These oligomers and fi brils are sus- pected of interfering with cell-to-cell communication within the brain and eventually cause cell death, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Using transgenic anima l models of A l z hei mer 's d i sea se creat ed i n t he 1990s, researchers began exploring the Ignites Treatment Hopes for Alzheimer's Disease BY TIFFANY PARNELL Beta-amyloid Research RESULTS OF A PHA SE 1B CLINICAL TRIAL PUBLISHED IN NATURE RE VE AL SCIENTISTS MAY BE ONE STEP CLOSER TO FINDING A TRE ATMENT THAT SAFELY IMPEDES THE BIOLOGICAL PROGRESSION OF AL ZHEIMER'S DISE A SE. 1 6❱❱❱❱❱ R E C E N T R E S E A R C H