Tubulin and Tubulin Posttranslational Modifications in Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) are the two most common forms of dementia in older people. Although these two dementia types differ in their etiology, they share many pathophysiological and morphological features, including neuronal loss, which is associated with the microtubule (MT) destabilization. Stabilization of MTs is achieved in different ways: through interactions with MT binding proteins (MTBP) or by posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of tubulin. Polyglutamylation and tyrosination are two foremost PTMs that regulate the interaction between MTs and MTBPs, and play, therefore, a role in neurodegeneration. In this review, we summarize key information on tubulin PTMs in relation to AD and VaD and address the importance of studying further the tubulin code to reveal sites of potential intervention in development of novel and effective dementia therapy.

Effect of Multiple Medicines on Dementia Initial Treatment: Experience and Thinking

Little is known about multiple medicines and initial therapy among people with dementia. To examine the effect of multiple medicines on the initiation of anti-dementia therapy in patients diagnosed with cognitive impairment (CI), a retrospective study with 2742 CI patients was conducted based on the outpatients’ medical records. The dementias receiving 1–2 drugs were more likely to be prescribed with anti-dementia (one drug: OR = 1.877; two drugs: OR = 1.770) and psychotropic (one drug: OR = 1.980) treatment, whereas had lower chances of receiving psychotropic medication with the combinations of more than three drugs (Alzheimer’s disease: OR = .365; vascular dementia: OR = .940; frontotemporal lobe degeneration: OR = .957; and dementia with Lewy bodies/Parkinson’s disease dementia: OR = .952). Multiple medicines can affect anti-dementia therapy initiation in dementia patients and should be paid extreme caution.