Abstract
As the number of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) continues to rise, the need for efficacious therapeutics is becoming more and more urgent. Understanding the molecular relationship and interactions between Aβ and tau and their contribution to cognitive decline remain one of the most fundamental and unresolved questions in the AD field. Likewise, elucidating the initial triggers of disease pathology, as well as the impact of various factors such as stress and inflammation on disease progression, are equally important to fully understand this devastating disorder. Here we discuss recent studies that have illuminated the importance of key facilitators of disease progression using the 3xTg-AD and CaM/Tet-DTA mouse models, and suggest viable targets for ameliorating both molecular pathology and cognitive decline.