Neurodegenerative diseases linked to misfolded proteins and their therapeutic approaches: A review

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Creutzfeldt-Jacob, Huntington's diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are mainly characterized by the massive deposition of misfolded protein aggregates consequent to aberrant production or overexpression of specific proteins. The development of new therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative pathophysiologies currently stands at a crossroads. This presents an opportunity to transition future drug discovery efforts to target disease modification, an area in which much still remains unknown. In this review we examine recent progress in the area of neurodegenerative drug discovery, focusing on some of the most common targets.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Neurodegenerative; Perkinson's disease; Prions; Protein misfolding.