Personalizing the Care and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease: An Overview

Švob Štrac, Dubravka; Konjevod, Marcela; Šagud, Marina; Nikolac Perković, Matea; Nedić Erjavec, Gordana; Vuić, Barbara; Šimić, Goran; Vukic, Vana; Mimica, Ninoslav; Pivac, Nela (2021) Personalizing the Care and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease: An Overview. Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine, Volume (14). pp. 631-653. ISSN 1178-7066

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Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, complex, and multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder, still without effective and stable therapeutic strategies. Currently, available medications for AD are based on symptomatic therapy, which include acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. Additionally, medications such as antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants, sedative, and hypnotic agents, and mood stabilizers are used for the management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Clinical research has been extensively investigated treatments focusing on the hallmark pathology of AD, including the amyloid deposition, tau hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation, and vascular changes; however, so far without success, as all new potential drugs failed to show significant clinical benefit. The underlying heterogeneous etiology and diverse symptoms of AD suggest that a precision medicine strategy is required, which would take into account the complex genetic, epigenetic, and environmental landscape of each AD patient. The article provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on AD, the current and potential therapy of both cognitive symptoms as well as BPSD, with a special focus on gut microbiota and epigenetic modifications as new emerging drug targets. Their specific patterns could represent the basis for novel individually tailored approaches aimed to optimize precision medicine strategies for AD prevention and treatment. However, the successful application of precision medicine to AD demands a further extensive research of underlying pathological processes, as well as clinical and biological complexity of this multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Alzheimer disease; therapy; precision medicine; gut microbiota; epigenetics
Subjects:	BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE > Clinical Medical Sciences
Divisions:	Division of Molecular Medicine
Projects:	Project title Project leader Project code Project type Terapijski potencijal neurosteroida i neurotrofina u demenciji-TePoNeDe Dubravka Švob Štrac; Ninoslav Mimica; Suzana Uzun; Oliver Kozumplik; Julija Erhardt; Ana-Marija Domijan; Dora Zelena; Erika Pinter; Coral Barbas IP-2019-04-6100 HRZZ
Depositing User:	Virna Brumnić
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2026 10:42
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/11638
DOI:	10.2147/pgpm.s284615

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