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Anti-Amyloid Agents: A Self-Fulfilling prophecy
Alexandros Giannakis, Spiridon Konitsiotis. Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, 2025-05-19
Topic: Drug trials: efficacy and safety
The introduction of anti-amyloid antibodies has ushered in a new era in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), coinciding with the revision of its diagnostic criteria, which now focus on the biological definition of AD, with amyloid beta at its core. However, despite being fully aligned with these criteria-and therefore with how we define the disease-amyloid-targeting therapies have not yielded the expected results. How can a treatment targeting the very core of the disease be ineffective? Perhaps because AD, as we have defined it, is not actually the disease that afflicts millions of patients worldwide. Patients with conditions related to AD, such as apolipoprotein ε4 allele (APOE4) homozygotes, patients receiving anticoagulant therapy for atrial fibrillation, and those with microhemorrhages, are excluded from treatment. Several other pathogenetic mechanisms continue to arise, including neuroinflammation, cerebrovascular disease, and metal ion dysregulation. At the same time, Alzheimer's pathology frequently coexists with other brain pathologies in AD patients, the roles and interactions of which remain largely unknown. Thus, AD should be redefined as a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder, in which various processes contribute to amyloid accumulation or independently drive neurodegeneration.
Key findings
- However, despite being fully aligned with these criteria-and therefore with how we define the disease-amyloid-targeting therapies have not yielded the expected results.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 43/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 24 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 43 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40393205) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 24 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 24 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 43 out of 100. |
| Total | 43 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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APA 7th
Giannakis, A., & Konitsiotis, S. (2025). Anti-Amyloid Agents: A Self-Fulfilling prophecy. Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocn.2025.111338
Vancouver
Giannakis A, Konitsiotis S. Anti-Amyloid Agents: A Self-Fulfilling prophecy. Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2025.111338. PMID: 40393205.
BibTeX
@article{giannakis2025-40393205,
author = {Giannakis, Alexandros and Konitsiotis, Spiridon},
title = {{Anti-Amyloid Agents: A Self-Fulfilling prophecy}},
journal = {Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1016/j.jocn.2025.111338},
pmid = {40393205},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocn.2025.111338}
}