Yeast as a model for the identification of novel survival-promoting compounds applicable to treat degenerative diseases.
Programmed cell death (PCD) plays an important role in development and normal metabolic functioning of organisms. Excessive cell death is the cause of many degenerative diseases, like neurodegenerative disorders and Wilson's disease, for which current therapies remain insufficient. Current therapies are mainly focused on decreasing the disease symptoms following cell death, rather than blocking the cell death process itself. The latter can be obtained by either decreasing the presence of the toxic trigger (like protein aggregation in case of many commonly known neurodegenerative diseases) or by blocking death-inducing signaling cascade(s). Given the high conservation in PCD processes between yeast and mammalian cells, in this review, we will focus on yeast as a model organism to study PCD-related diseases as well as on its use for drug discovery purposes. More specifically, we will provide a comprehensive overview of new compounds, which were identified in yeast-based drug screens, that either decrease the amount of toxic trigger or inhibit PCD signaling cascades under PCD-inducing conditions.
Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics CMPG, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, Box 2460, 3001, Leuven, Belgium.
Sara
S
Verbandt
Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics CMPG, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, Box 2460, 3001, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Technologiepark 927, 9052 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: bruno.cammue@biw.kuleuven.be.
Bruno P A
BPA
Cammue
Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics CMPG, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, Box 2460, 3001, Leuven, Belgium.
Karin
K
Thevissen
D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*
Neurodegenerative diseases; Programmed cell death; Survival-promoting activity; Wilson’s disease; Yeast-based models