Modelling of Anti-amyloid-Beta Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease

A healthy brain clears different types of debris with the help of specialized glial cells. These cells contiguously tile the entire central nervous system (CNS), exert many essential complex functions in the healthy CNS, and maintain a healthy balance in the brain. However, over age, these cells fail to control the healthy balance of the proteins and cause different neurodegenerative diseases, one of which is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In AD, insoluble amyloid-beta plaques accumulate in the extracellular space along with neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) inside the brain cells. In this paper, we have developed a model and studied the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques and NFTs along with an anti-amyloid-beta therapy applied in the treatment of the disease. Based on these studies, we have demonstrated the dynamics of the modelling therapy such that the drug helps clear a subsequent amount of amyloid-beta plaques in each dose. Numerical simulations have been used to show different long-term outcomes of the model. To further analyze the disease progression in the brain and its treatment, we have integrated brain connectome data in the network model as part of our developed modelling framework.