Diabetes type 2 and Alzheimer disease - one or two diseases? Mechanisms of association

Some epidemiological data and pathophysiological evidence suggest similarities and connection of two amyloidoses: diabetes mellitus type 2, (DM2) (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). What they have in common is insulin resistance, neurodegeneration, development and progression of dementia, and the fact that in the course of both diseases fibrillar aggregates of specific proteins are accumulated in affected organs. What is more, experimental evidence also supports the hypothesis that small prefibrillar aggregates that emerge prior to the appearance of mature fibrils are responsible for a key step in development and cytotoxicity of both diseases. They also have similar pathogenic effects. Both peptides possess the common receptor AMY3. More and more evidence is accumulating that key cell regulation processes are similar for both diseases as well. The question is raised: can Alzheimer be a new form of diabetes disease?