The most common degenerative brain disease in America is Alzheimer's disease (AD), which currently affects 5.3 million people. While the focus on the cause of AD dementia has always been on beta amyloid protein fragments, there is now substantial evidence that the toxic effects on memory and behavior may depend on the tau molecule. This theory also applies to other neurodegenerative diseases including Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which affects people at an even younger age than AD - in their mid-fifties and sixties. Abnormal forms of tau have been shown to cause neurodegeneration inciting memory loss and other neurological deficits. With the development of tau therapeutics, scientists are closer than ever to treating the root causes of dementia.

On March 25 and 26 in Symphony Park, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, in association with the Frontotemporal Dementia Treatment Study Group, hosted the pioneering conference, Frontotemporal Dementia: The Next Therapeutic Frontier. The meeting brought together academic and pharmaceutical researchers, physicians and advocacy groups to explore possible treatments for FTD, AD, and related neurocognitive diseases. The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health aims to foster collaboration between these scientific leaders through a series of lectures, panels and group discussions.

"At the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, we are constantly researching new treatments and conducting clinical trials, and what better way to initiate development of new therapies than through this great meeting of the minds," said Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, Director of Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. "Developing treatments for these devastating neurodegenerative diseases is as important as ever with Alzheimer's disease alone expected to affect an estimated 16 million Americans by 2050. Moving forward, we must work together to share our research and find a cure."

For information on the center and its clinical trials program, contact (702) 483-6000 or www.ccf.org/brainhealth.

Photo: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health Director Jeffrey L. Cummings, MD, addresses conference attendees