Recent applications of bioinformatics in target identification and drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex multifactorial neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive memory loss. The main pathological features of the disease are extracellular deposition of amyloid β (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyper-phosphorylated tau protein. The understanding of factors contributing to AD progression, number of molecular signatures, and the development of therapeutic agents played a significant role in the discovery of disease-modifying drugs to treat the disease. Bioinformatics has established its significance in many areas of biology. The role of bioinformatics, in drug discovery is emerging significantly and will continue to evolve. In recent years, different bioinformatics methodologies, viz. protein signaling pathway, molecular signature differences between different classes drugs, interacting profiles of drugs and their potential therapeutic mechanisms have been applied to identify potential therapeutic targets of AD. Bioinformatics tools were also found to contribute in the discovery of novel drugs, omics-based biomarkers, and drug repurposing for AD. The review aims to explore the applications of various advanced bioinformatics tools in the identification of targets, biomarkers, pathways, and potential therapeutics for the treatment of the disease.