Proteopathy: the next therapeutic frontier?
Walker, L.C.; LeVine, H.
Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs 3(5): 782-787
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 1472-4472 PMID: 12090553 Document Number: 551826
The abnormal conformation and assembly of proteins is a probable cause of many degenerative diseases of old age. These proteopathies include such clinically disparate neurological disorders as Alzheimer's disease. Parkinson's disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, as well as a variety of non-neurological maladies. The involvement of protein pathology in these diseases is well established and we are beginning to understand the process whereby proteins self-assemble and injure tissues; however, we remain largely in the dark regarding the fundamental origins of the proteopathies. Our present knowledge suggests three broad therapeutic approaches to abrogating the proteopathic cascade: reduce the production of the offending proteins, prevent their self-assembly, or promote their removal.