Neurodegenerative diseases: new concepts of pathogenesis and their therapeutic implications.
Abstract Neurodegenerative diseases as diverse as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease share a common pathogenetic mechanism involving aggregation and deposition of misfolded proteins, which leads to progressive central nervous system disease. Although the type of aggregated protein and the regional and cellular distribution of deposition vary from disease to disease, these disorders may all be linked by similar pathways of protein aggregation with fibril formation and amyloid deposition. This perspective on pathogenesis suggests that a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases can be grouped mechanistically as brain amyloidoses, an outlook that yields novel insights into potential therapeutic approaches that may be applicable across the broad spectrum of neurodegenerative disease.
Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. skovronsky@avidrp.com
Daniel M
DM
Skovronsky
Virginia M-Y
VM
Lee
John Q
JQ
Trojanowski
D000682:Amyloid / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology
D000682:Amyloid; D015415:Biomarkers