Physicians Committee
September 2015
A new commentary in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease by Physicians Committee medical research specialist Francesca Pistollato, Ph.D., and colleagues, addresses the need to refocus current research efforts on human-based methods, such as human cells and computational models, together with epidemiological and clinical studies [A Human-Based Integrated Framework for Alzheimer's Disease Research]. These tools will help facilitate human-relevant data acquisition, in an effort to face the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Animal models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been extensively utilized for decades… However, research success has not effectively translated into therapeutic success for human patients,” writes Dr. Pistollato. “Our analysis indicates that a paradigm shift toward human-based, rather than animal-based research is required in the face of the ever-increasing prevalence of AD in the 21st century.”
Alzheimer’s disease research has been heavily focused on the use of animals in an effort to recapitulate human pathological features and test novel therapeutic compounds. However, research success has not effectively translated into therapeutic success for human patients.
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