Cited by 103Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsDementia and Cognitive Impairment Research

Amyloid, tau, pathogen infection and antimicrobial protection in Alzheimer’s disease –conformist, nonconformist, and realistic prospects for AD pathogenesis

Open access
Li, Hongmei, Liu, Chia-Chen, Zheng, Hui, Huang, Timothy Y.·2018·Translational Neurodegeneration

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a fatal disease that threatens the quality of life of an aging population at a global scale. Various hypotheses on the etiology of AD have been developed over the years to guide efforts in search of therapeutic strategies. MAIN BODY: In this review, we focus on four AD hypotheses currently relevant to AD onset: the prevailing amyloid cascade hypothesis, the well-recognized tau hypothesis, the increasingly popular pathogen (viral infection) hypothesis, and the infection-related antimicrobial protection hypothesis. In briefly reviewing the main evidence supporting each hypothesis and discussing the questions that need to be addressed, we hope to gain a better understanding of the complicated multi-layered interactions in potential causal and/or risk factors in AD pathogenesis. As a defining feature of AD, the existence of amyloid deposits is likely fundamental to AD onset but is insufficient to wholly reproduce many complexities of the disorder. A similar belief is currently also applied to hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates within neurons, where tau has been postulated to drive neurodegeneration in the presence of pre-existing Aβ plaques in the brain. Although infection of the central nerve system by pathogens such as viruses may increase AD risk, it is yet to be determined whether this phenomenon is applicable to all cases of sporadic AD and whether it is a primary trigger for AD onset. Lastly, the antimicrobial protection hypothesis provides insight into a potential physiological role for Aβ peptides, but how Aβ/microbial interactions affect AD pathogenesis during aging awaits further validation. Nevertheless, this hypothesis cautions potential adverse effects in Aβ-targeting therapies by hindering potential roles for Aβ in anti-viral protection. CONCLUSION: AD is a multi-factor complex disorder, which likely requires a combinatorial therapeutic approach to successfully slow or reduce symptomatic memory decline. A better understanding of how various causal and/or risk factors affecting disease onset and progression will enhance the likelihood of conceiving effective treatment paradigms, which may involve personalized treatment strategies for individual patients at varying stages of disease progression.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/s40035-018-0139-3

Cites

320 of 320 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Pathogens including Helicobacter pylori, various bacteria of liver, gut, lungs and mouth, and viruses including EBV, CMV, HIV, HSV-1, HSV-2, HHV-6A/HHV-7 can infiltrate the CNS and dysregulate AD-associated neurological function.

    “Related pathogens include Helicobacter pylori, various bacteria of the liver, gut, lungs (pneumonia) and mouth, as well as viruses to include Epstein Barr virus, CMV, HIV, oral herpes HSV-1, genital herpes HSV-2, human herpesvirus (HHV)-6A/HHV-7 (recently reviewed in [530]). These pathogens can infiltrate the CNS and dysregulate AD-associated neurological function.”
  • Many studies have linked AD to a diverse variety of bacterial and viral pathogens.

    “Many studies have linked AD to a diverse variety of bacterial and viral pathogens [529–531].”
  • Significant overlap exists between expression of AD-associated genes and genomic viral load in the CNS; viral abundance may determine AD progression through regulation of genes associated with APP processing.

    “Significant overlap exists between the expression of AD-associated genes and genomic viral load in the CNS; for example, viral abundance may determine AD progression through the regulation of genes associated with APP processing [529–531].”
  • A recent multi-omic study identified enrichment of HHV-6A and HHV-7 in AD patients compared to controls.

    “A recent multi-omic study identified an enrichment of HHV-6A and HHV-7 in AD patients compared to controls [529–531].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 321 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Li, H., Liu, C.-C., Zheng, H., & Huang, T. Y.
Affiliations
  • Mayo Clinic in Florida (US)
  • Baylor College of Medicine (US)
  • Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • Li, Hongmei
  • Huang, Timothy Y.
Venue
Translational Neurodegeneration
Published
2018-12
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
34-34
ISSN
2047-9158 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2906630689
Cited by
103
References
321
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 8
FWCI
1.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Translational Neurodegeneration (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (AG059217, AG061875, AG062257, AG057509, AG054111, AG020670, AG057981)
  • BrightFocus Foundation (A2016346F)
  • Alzheimer Association (AARG-17-500335)
  • Florida Department of Health (8AZ07)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, amyloid hypothesis, tau hypothesis, viral infection hypothesis, amyloid-beta, tau hyperphosphorylation, neurodegeneration, AD pathogenesis, risk factors, personalized treatment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review