Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Inflammation: A Hypothetical View

Neurodegenerative diseases share many common characteristics. In this chapter we will present current understanding of the genetic, immunologic, and environmental basis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The etiology of AD and MS is not known, but one factor that is common to the pathogenesis of these diseases is inflammation. We will discuss the pathogenesis of the different types of mechanisms that environmental and genetic factors can impose on these diseases with special emphasis on inflammation or inflammatory responses. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.