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.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Alzheimer disease and aducanumab: adjusting our approach

In the march towards disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer disease, immunotherapy with antibodies against amyloid-β protein is furthest along in human trials. The news that Biogen’s aducanumab showed no cognitive benefit in phase III trials requires careful analysis of what went wrong and how to position anti-amyloid agents among other therapeutic approaches.

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

References

  1. Sevigny, J. et al. The antibody aducanumab reduces Aβ plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. Nature 537, 50–56 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Selkoe, D. J. Preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Science 337, 1488–1492 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Castellano, J. M. et al. Human apoE isoforms differentially regulate brain amyloid-β peptide clearance. Sci. Transl Med. 3, 89ra57 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sperling, R. A. et al. The A4 study: stopping AD before symptoms begin? Sci. Transl Med. 6, 228fs13 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Butovsky, O. & Weiner, H. L. Microglial signatures and their role in health and disease. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 19, 622–623 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dennis J. Selkoe.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

D.J.S. is a consultant for E-Scape Bio and Prothena.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Selkoe, D.J. Alzheimer disease and aducanumab: adjusting our approach. Nat Rev Neurol 15, 365–366 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-019-0205-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-019-0205-1

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