The elusive role of herpesviruses in Alzheimer’s disease: current evidence and future directions

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. While pathologic hallmarks, such as extracellular beta-amyloid plaques, are well-characterized in affected individuals, the pathogenesis that causes plaque formation and eventual cognitive decline is not well understood. A recent resurgence of the decades-old “infectious hypothesis” has garnered increased attention on the potential role that microbes may play in AD. In this theory, it is thought that pathogens such as viruses may act as seeds for beta-amyloid aggregation, ultimately leading to plaques. Interest in the infectious hypothesis has also spurred further investigation into additional characteristics of viral infection that may play a role in AD progression, such as neuroinflammation, latency, and viral DNA integration. While a flurry of research in this area has been recently published, with herpesviruses being of particular interest, the role of pathogens in AD remains controversial. In this review, the insights gained thus far into the possible role of herpesviruses in AD are summarized. The challenges and potential future directions of herpesvirus research in AD and dementia are also discussed.

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Molecular Model and Implied Path to Improved Therapy

“…The proposal has been made [ 19 , 21 ] that these observations are linked to the observations of others [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ] that (1) herpesvirus infections are, statistically speaking, precursors of AD, and (2) this precursor–product relationship is dependent on the presence of the ApoE-ε4 allele. (This context dependence implies that the procedure used was capable of detecting no herpesvirus dependence when it existed.)…”