Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of late life with devastating consequences for the afflicted and their carers and poses one of the major challenges to medical research. Until recently, little hope of effective therapies capable of slowing the disease process or preventing its occurrence was apparent. With recent advances in the genetics and molecular biology of the disease processes and the demonstration of the involvement of multiple aetiological factors, however, real chances are now appearing for the identification of preventive drugs. In this discussion, experts from disciplines ranging from molecular genetics to the clinic provide review and novel data concerning the aetiology of AD and the establishment of drugfinding screening methods.

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1 Alzheimer's Disease With and Without Familial Aggregation: A Case for Phenotypical Similarity.- 2 The Vascular Dementias and Cerebrovascular Involvement in Alzheimer's Disease.- 3 The Genes Involved in Alzheimer's Disease.- 4 In Vivo Biology of Amyloid Precursor Protein/Amyloid Precursor-like Proteins and Transgenic Animal Models of Alzheimer's Disease.- 5 Molecular Processing Pathways of ?-Amyloid Precursor Protein: Therapeutic Implications.- 6 Regulation of Amyloid ?-Protein Precursor Processing by Cell Surface Receptor Ligands and Second Messengers.- 7 Tau Phosphorylation and Dephosphorylation in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease.- 8 Cytokines in Alzheimer's and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases.- 9 Inflammation in the CNS and in Alzheimer's Disease.- 10 Protein Modifications and Interactions in Alzheimer's Disease.- 11 Protein Aging and Its Relevance to the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease.- Previous Volumes Published in this Series.