There is increasing recognition that numerous neurodegenerative conditions have the same underlying pathogenetic mechanism, namely a change in protein conformation, where the β-sheet content is increased. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid deposition in the form of neuritic plaques and congophilic angiopathy is driven by the conversion of normal soluble amyloid-β peptide (sAβ) to Aβ plaques; while in the prionoses the critical event is the conversion of normal prion protein, PrPc, to the disease-associated form, PrPsc. This common theme in the pathogenesis of these disorders and the extracellular localization of the accumulating abnormal protein make them highly amenable to therapeutic approaches based on experimental manipulation of protein conformation and clearance. A number of different approaches under current development include drugs which affect the processing of the precursor proteins drugs the clearance of the amyloidogenic protein, and which inhibit or prevent the conformation change and immunological approaches. Particularly interesting are compounds termed ‘β-sheet breakers’ that directly target the abnormal conformational change both for Aβ- and PrPsc-related deposits. In addition, immune system activation can serve as β-sheet breakers and/or to increase the clearance of the disease-associated proteins. These conformation-based approaches appear to hold the best promise for therapies for this devastating group of disorders.
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Conference Article|
August 01 2002
Therapeutics in Alzheimer's and Prion Diseases
T. Wisniewski;
T. Wisniewski
1
*Department of Neurology, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue TH 427, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A.
†Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue TH 427, New York NY 10016, U.S.A.
‡Department of Pathology, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue TH 427, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed, at the Department of Neurology, New York University Medical Center (e-mail thomas.wisniewski@med.nyu.edu)
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D. R. Brown;
D. R. Brown
§Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K.
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E. M. Sigurdsson
E. M. Sigurdsson
†Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue TH 427, New York NY 10016, U.S.A.
‡Department of Pathology, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue TH 427, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A.
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
April 10 2002
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© 2002 Biochemical Society
2002
Biochem Soc Trans (2002) 30 (4): 574–578.
Article history
Received:
April 10 2002
Citation
T. Wisniewski, D. R. Brown, E. M. Sigurdsson; Therapeutics in Alzheimer's and Prion Diseases. Biochem Soc Trans 1 August 2002; 30 (4): 574–578. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0300574
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