Cholesterol and apoe: a target for Alzheimer's disease therapeutics.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating disease that affects many people. In order to reduce the number of people diagnosed with this disease, drug strategies need to be implemented that target early steps in disease pathogenesis. Elevated cholesterol levels and presence of the apolipoprotein E eta4 allele increase AD risk. How these two factors may contribute to AD pathogenesis and some therapeutic strategies for alleviating AD risk will be discussed.