Causes and Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease: A Proteomics Approach

Proteomics has become a powerful tool facilitating hypothesis-driven exploration of disease states as well as offering a global approach which can uncover potentially important, though unexpected links to disease etiology. Despite many recent advances, the pathophysiological basis of Alzheimer's disease is incompletely understood. Alzheimer's dementia almost certainly results from a constellation of cellular changes, with considerable interplay between multiple genetic and environmental factors. As a multifactorial disease, it is an ideal candidate for a proteomics approach which offers a broad spectrum view of changes to protein expression. The use of proteomics in the study of Alzheimer's dementia is in its early days. However, its importance as an approach to the study of this disease has been recognized by a considerable number of review papers on this topic. This review summarises the advances that proteomics has so far offered to understanding the basis of Alzheimer's pathology. Further, the use of proteomics to explore potential biomarkers of Alzheimer's pathology which might be of clinical or diagnostic use, will be addressed.