Chapter 22 - Significance of nanosomes for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is mainly characterized by the accumulation of toxic β amyloid and tau protein in the brain. It is the fourth most common cause of death in western countries after heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The major problem in AD is often undiagnosed; even though it is diagnosed, people are unaware of their symptoms, and the pathogenesis involved in AD is still completely unclear. This chapter mainly focuses on concepts and clinical diagnosis of AD with nanosome-based approaches. During the last decades, various nanotechnology-based methods hold a highly promising prospect for early detection and therapy of AD. Theranostic nanosomes have wide applicability in definitive diagnosis for screening the AD patients due to their nontoxic and nonimmunogenic, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, which are considered as attractive future diagnostic aid for understanding the pathophysiology of the early stages of AD. This approach has been developed to selectively interact with brain capillary endothelial cells across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and can prominently bind with the respective biomarkers that are the soluble extracellular protein aggregates in the brain for promptly screening the prognosis of the disease. This chapter will describe the current and future nanosomes-based diagnostic approaches for the detection and noninvasive treatment of neurodegenerative AD.