Epigenetic drugs for Alzheimer's disease: hopes and challenges

In his letter Peedicayil suggests that epigenetic mechanisms, in particular histone deacetylases (HDACs) and gene methylation, might represent a promising target for drug discovery in Alzheimer Disease (AD). In our recent review we focused on disease modifying drugs in advanced clinical development (Phase II/III); therefore we did not discuss drugs that specifically exert epigenetic effects, because none of them has reached so far advanced clinical development for AD. However, as suggested by Peedicayil, epigenetic mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases have been the object of intensive research in recent years and deserve attention because they might soon constitute a novel paradigm in AD arena.