Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex disease, in which both genetic and environmental factors play an important role. Identification of these factors is a crucial task as it may provide new avenues to understand and design intervention approaches against AD. Recent progress in the genomics and particularly in the high-throughput genotyping technology has provided powerful tools to identify risk genes in complex diseases by employing, for example, genome-wide association (GWA) studies. Using the GWA as well as candidate gene approaches, several AD susceptibility genes with moderate risk effects have been identified from different ethnic populations. In most of the cases, however, biological relevance of the risk gene variations is still elusive, emphasizing the need for comprehensive functional characterization of these genes in AD pathogenesis. In addition, epidemiological and clinical studies have revealed that certain comorbidities, such as cerebral ischemia, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and type-2 diabetes (TD2), often precede or cooccur with AD and that they are affected by modifiable life-style factors. Collectively, detailed elucidation of the risk genes and comorbidities in the context of AD pathogenesis may lead to the identification of specific molecular targets underlying the clinical manifestation of AD.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles and review articles that stimulate the efforts to identify novel molecular targets involved in AD pathogenesis. We are particularly interested in articles that address the current advances and concepts in AD genetics, new insights related to combined genetic and functional characterization of risk genes in AD, and effects of AD comorbidities (e.g., cerebral ischemia, TBI, and TD2) on measures relevant for AD pathogenesis, such as amyloid precursor protein processing, tau protein phosphorylation, as well as inflammation and oxidative stress. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Latest advances and concepts in AD genetics
• Genetic and functional characterization of novel risk genes in AD
• Role of comorbidities in AD pathogenesis
• In vitro and in vivo models of AD comorbidities

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