Gene regulation as a potential avenue for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders

Abstract

Background: As more people live to an older age, the frequency of diseases associated with longer life begins to increase. Neurodegenerative disorders are the worst of these in that there is now no treatment that offers any real improvement. For this reason, any new avenue of research that could lead to a treatment needs to be rigorously pursued. In many cases, neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the expression of a protein with an altered conformation or that generates a breakdown product associated with the cause. Clearly, the prevention of this process is a key therapeutic target. Objective: In this review, the potential for regulating gene expression to prevent or reverse neurodegenerative disease is explored. Conclusions: Whereas much research has been directed at the proteins associated with neurodegeneration, understanding what controls their expression presents a new way this issue could be studied.

Keywords::

• ADAM10
• Alzheimer's
• amyloid
• APP
• BACE-1
• neurodegeneration
• Parkinson's
• prion
• synuclein
• transcription