The role of Sigma Receptors in Alzheimer’s disease

Dr. Mark Smith, a leading researcher and professor in the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, is one of the world’s most cited researchers in the fields of Alzheimer’s disease. After a long research, Dr. Smith has stated: “Sigma receptors have been underappreciated as a potentially pivotal mechanism in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Based on recent data, we now know that sigma receptors are implicated in oxidative stress, through modulation of calcium signalling via the mitochondria, providing an etiological pathway in Alzheimer’s disease. The ability to understand how sigma receptors work and, further, to be able to then interfere with sigma receptors through agonism or antagonism, may lead to new therapeutics that are truly disease modifying, rather than symptomatic only, as all currently available therapies are." Sigma receptors have been studied for decades, but only in the last few years their identification as potential fruitful targets for therapeutic developments in combating human diseases, including Alzheimer’s, have become clearer.