ABSTRACT
Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (AD and PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and Huntington’s disease commonly leave people mentally and physically incapacitated. Neurodegeneration results in the death or malfunction of neurons and their connections to supportive glial cells. However, not all cells are equally affected and in some conditions only a specifi c subtype of neuron in a defi ned anatomical region is affected. Even though signifi cant therapeutic advances have been made, neurodegenerative disorders continue to present a signifi cant challenge for modern medicine. They affl ict more than 6 million people in the United States alone at an annual health care related cost of approximately US$ 180 billion/annum. Statistics like these highlight the urgent need to fi nd effective methods for detecting, halting the progression of, or altogether curing these diseases. Regrettably, there are presently few therapeutic options available that can affect clinical outcomes. Therapies are palliative and do no more than temporarily manage symptoms. Another factor that makes it challenging to treat neurodegenerative disorders is that the conditions are diffi cult to detect in the early stages of disease. Commonly, a disease will progress for years before obvious clinical symptoms appear and a diagnosis can be made, at which time signifi cant and permanent damage has occurred and degeneration is fully underway. Certainly, the management of disease may be more effective if a diagnosis was made early. Efforts are underway through biomarker discovery and bioimaging, in particular, to target this unmet need.
