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.
A public–private partnership to establish biomarkers of dementia in Down's syndrome could aid the development of preventive therapies for the dementia associated with both Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, based on the apparent common role of amyloid precursor protein in the two conditions.
Three prevention trials in asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease patients will attempt to validate the amyloid hypothesis, evaluate biomarkers and set the stage for drug approvals.
Mark McClellan, Director of the Brookings Institution's health care reform centre, discusses the need for better metrics to measure the health of biomedical innovation.
In the wake of the recent approvals of the first new obesity therapies in more than a decade, Wong and colleagues analyse their market prospects as well as the late-stage pipeline.
Effective and safe pharmacological options for the prevention and treatment of obesity remain elusive. Here, Dietrich and Horvath review the role of the hypothalamus in the control of food intake and the mechanism of action of current anti-obesity agents. They propose that targeting hunger pathways, such as those activated during calorie restriction and exercise, might lead to safer long-term obesity therapies.
Disappointing clinical trials halted progress in using leptin for the treatment of obesity. Here, the authors propose a role for leptin in the treatment of type 1 diabetes and postulate that if the mechanisms of leptin resistance are better understood, leptin may become an important adjunct tool for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
The lysosomal degradation pathway known as autophagy has an essential homeostatic role in controlling the quality of the cytoplasm. However, this pathway has also been implicated in the pathology of an array of human disorders. Here, Rubinsztein and colleagues provide an overview of the mechanisms and regulation of autophagy, discuss the role of this pathway in disease and highlight potential strategies for therapeutic modulation.
