From epidemiology to pathophysiology: what about caffeine in Alzheimer's disease?

© The Authors Journal compilation © 2014 Biochemical SocietyAD (Alzheimer's disease) is the most prevalent form of dementia in the aged population. Definitive diagnosis of AD is based on the presence of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are identified in post-mortem brain specimens. A third pathological component is inflammation. AD results from multiple genetic and environmental risk factors. Among other factors, epidemiological studies report beneficial effects of caffeine, a non-selective antagonist of adenosine receptors. In the present review, we discuss the impact of caffeine and the adenosinergic system in AD pathology as well as consequences in terms of pathology and therapeutics.D.Bl. and L.B. are supported by France Alzheimer, La Ligue Européenne Contre la Maladie d’Alzheimer (LECMA)/Alzheimer Forschung Initiative, LabEx (excellence laboratory) DISTALZ (Development of Innovative Strategies for a Transdisciplinary approach to ALZheimer's disease), Inserm, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Lille 2, Région Nord/Pas-de-Calais, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ADORATAU), ERA-Net (ABeta-ID) and Fonds Unique Interministériel MEDIALZ. V.F. holds a grant from Inserm/Region Nord pas de Calais. C.L. holds a doctoral grant from Lille 2 University. D.Bo. is supported through grants from the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers NS065957, MH083973 and NS061844], the U.S. Department of the Army [grant number W81XWH-12-1-0283] and the Legacy Good Samaritan Foundation. L.V.L. is an FCT Investigator (iFCT). Her laboratory has support from Fritz-Thyssen Foundation, Bial and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (Portugal). D.B. is an Inserm investigator.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio