When aging-onset diabetes is coming across with Alzheimer disease: Comparable pathogenesis and therapy

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose because of the insulin-resistance and insulin-deficiency in Type 2, while the insulin deficiency due to destruction of islet cells in the pancreas in Type 1. The development of Type 2 diabetes is caused by a combination of lifestyle and genetic factors. Aging patients with diabetes are at increased risk of developing cognitive and memory dysfunctions, which is one of the significant symptoms of Alzheimer disease (AD). Also, over 2/3 of AD patients were clinically indentified with impairment of glucose. Cognitive dysfunction would be associated with poor self-care ability in diabetes patients. This review will briefly summarize the current knowledge of the pathogenesis of these two diseases and highlight similarities in their pathophysiologies. Furthermore, we will shortly discuss recent progress in the insulin-targeted strategy, aiming to explore the inner linkage between these two diseases in aging populations. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.