Gene-specific treatment approaches in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies

The pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease are aggregation and accumulation of amyloid-beta and tau proteins. So far most interventional studies have focused on the removal of the toxic protein products, such as antibody-based immunotherapies targeted against amyloid-beta and tau proteins; however, the development of gene therapies targeting gene products involved in the disease has opened up new therapeutic strategies to reduce the development of toxic protein aggregates by inhibiting the translation of pathological Alzheimer genes using antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). This has a timely influence on development of the disease. This article gives an overview of new advances in ASO-based treatment strategies for Alzheimer's disease.