Advances in the War on Alzheimer's

Although the cost of coping with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is already substantial—measured in lost quality of life and decreased productivity as well as in dollars—near-term predictions indicate that the expense will soon be too much for society to bear. The current lack of effective therapies, a large aging population, and increasing life expectancy worldwide are rapidly converging into an impending crisis for health care providers. Significant efforts are underway to reverse this dismal trend, and several recent articles reveal promising advances on all fronts in the fight to understand and treat AD. In this Select, we highlight recent research that brings much-needed insight to the understanding of disease mechanisms and the development of effective treatments for AD