The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex as a therapeutic target for age-related diseases.
Considerable research has been conducted on mitochondrial biology as it pertains to aging. However, relatively little attention has been accorded the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) relative to how we grow old and acquire age-related diseases. The purpose of this review is threefold: first, to describe the physiological chemistry of the PDC and define its place in normal cellular bioenergetics; second, to compare and contrast the pathogenesis and clinical features of congenital PDC deficiency with discrete examples of age-associated dysfunction of the complex; and third, to summarize recent findings in Caenorhabditis elegans that shed additional new light on the significance of the PDC to the aging process.
Departments of Medicine (Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism) and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. pws@ufl.edu
Peter W
PW
Stacpoole
D000367:Age Factors; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology; D011768:Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex / Q000378:metabolism*; D015325:Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency Disease / Q000201:enzymology*
D011768:Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex