Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Inflammation and Alzheimer disease: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Inflammation is commonly believed to be a culprit in Alzheimer disease pathogenesis. Recent studies, however, indicate that certain aspects of the inflammatory response may have therapeutic potential (pages 612–618).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Activation of microglia may have both deleterious and beneficial effects.

Renee Lucas

References

  1. McGeer, E.G. & McGeer, P.L. The importance of inflammatory mechanisms in Alzheimer Disease. Exp. Gerontol. 33, 371–378 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wyss-Coray, T. et al. TGF-β1 promotes microglia amyloid-β clearance and reduces plaque burden in transgenic mice. Nature Med. 7, 612–618 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Gonzalez-Scarano, F. & Baltuch, G. Microglia as mediators of inflammatory and degenerative diseases. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 22, 219–240 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Yankner, B.A. Mechanisms of neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's Disease. Neuron 16, 921–932 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Schenk, D. et al. Immunization with amyloid-β attenuates Alzheimer-disease-like pathology in the PDAPP mouse. Nature 400, 173–177 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bacskai, B.J. et al. Imaging of amyloid-β deposits in brains of living mice permits direct observation of clearance of plaques with immunotherapy. Nature Med. 7, 369–372 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bard, F. et al. Peripherally administered antibodies against amyloid β-peptide enter the central nervous system and reduce pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease. Nature Med. 6, 916–919 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Janus, C. et al. Aβ peptide immunization reduces behavioural impairment and plaques in a model of Alzheimer's disease. Nature 408, 979–982 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Morgan, D. et al. Aβ peptide vaccination prevents memory loss in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. Nature 408, 982–985 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rogers, J. et al. Clinical trial of indomethacin in Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 43, 1609–1611 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Weninger, S., Yankner, B. Inflammation and Alzheimer disease: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Nat Med 7, 527–528 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/87839

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/87839

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing