Welcome to the San Diego Alzheimer’s Nextgen Discovery Center

What is Alzheimer's Disease?

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a complex, multifactorial, slowly progressive, neurodegenerative disorder that causes dementia.

Based on genetic inheritance and age of onset, AD is classified as:

• familial AD (FAD) with a strong autosomal dominant inheritance and age of onset <65 years of age
• young-onset AD (YOAD) with no-known genetic background and age of onset <65 years of age
• late-onset AD (LOAD) with no genetic background and age of onset >65 years of age.

Mutations in APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2 genes cause FAD, which accounts for about 1-2% of all AD cases. Among LOAD, which accounts for >95% of all AD cases, aging is the primary risk factor apart from APOE epsilon-4 and TREM2 which also confers an increased risk of AD. Despite intensive research and several clinical trials, there are no drugs that prevent the onset or progression of AD. Significant barriers for AD research and drug development have been the absence of pathologically relevant model systems, the inability to carry out invasive molecular measurements in the living brain, and the paucity of screening modalities to test drugs that resolve all aberrant mechanisms associated with AD.

For more information on AD, please refer to Fact sheet on AD from National insitute of Aging.