Chairs: Melinda E. Tóth and Ákos Menyhárt
Title: Neurodegeneration: Comorbidity of Alzheimer’s disease and potential therapeutic targets
Summary: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder, representing the most common form of dementia. In Hungary, there are an estimated 200,000 individuals living with dementia, with Alzheimer's disease accounting for 3.8% of total deaths between 2011 and 2015. The accumulation of β-amyloid protein in the extracellular spaces and twisted strands of tau protein in the intracellular compartments of neurons is a defining characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Over the past two decades, both experimental and clinical data have indicated that protein aggregation in AD results in chronic neuronal hyperexcitability, which may significantly enhance neurodegeneration and inflammation. Chronic inflammation and uncontrolled microglia activation are believed to contribute to and exacerbate neuronal injury in AD. As there is currently no effective therapy against AD, the identification of novel molecular targets is of fundamental importance.
Botond Penke (professor emeritus, Department of Medical Chemistry, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged)
Title of presentation: “Novel targets and drug candidates for preventing the progression of Alzheimer's disease”
Anita Kamondi (professor, Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest)
Title of presentation: “Hyperexcitability as a modifiable risk factor of Alzheimer's disease”
Ádám Dénes (professor, group leader: "Momentum" Neuroimmunology Research Group, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest)
Title of presentation: “Modulation of neurovascular responses by microglia”
Melinda E. Tóth (research associate, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Centre of Excellence of the European Union)
Title of presentation: “Heat shock proteins and Alzheimer’s disease”
Ákos Menyhárt (assistant professor, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged)
Title of presentation: “Alzheimer-stroke continuum: the role of spreading depolarization”