title: Proteopathy: the next therapeutic frontier?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: CNS Pharmacology, Pfizer Ann Arbor Laboratories, MI 48105, USA. lary.walker@pfizer.com
authors.forename: Lary C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: LeVine
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000682:Amyloid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000682:Amyloid; D011506:Proteins