No disease modifying therapy exists for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The growing burden of this disease to our society necessitates continued investment in drug development. Over the last decade, multiple phase 3 clinical trials testing drugs that were designed to target established disease mechanisms of AD have all failed to benefit patients. There is, therefore, a need for new treatment strategies. Changes to the transition metals, zinc, copper, and iron, in AD impact on the molecular mechanisms of disease, and targeting these metals might be an alternative approach to treat the disease. Here we review how metals feature in molecular mechanisms of AD, and we describe preclinical and clinical data that demonstrate the potential for metal-based drug therapy.
