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Targeting autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases: From molecular mechanisms to clinical therapeutics
Author(s) -
Ajoolabady Amir,
Aslkhodapasandhokmabad Hamid,
Henninger Nils,
Demillard Laurie J.,
Nikanfar Masoud,
Nourazarian Alireza,
Ren Jun
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1440-1681
pISSN - 0305-1870
DOI - 10.1111/1440-1681.13500
Subject(s) - autophagy , neurodegeneration , disease , protein aggregation , neuroscience , huntington's disease , mechanism (biology) , parkinson's disease , medicine , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , biochemistry , apoptosis , philosophy , epistemology
Many neurodegenerative diseases are associated with pathological aggregation of proteins in neurons. Autophagy is a natural self‐cannibalization process that can act as a powerful mechanism to remove aged and damaged organelles as well as protein aggregates. It has been shown that promoting autophagy can attenuate or delay neurodegeneration by removing protein aggregates. In this paper, we will review the role of autophagy in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD), and Huntington's Disease (HD) and discuss opportunities and challenges of targeting autophagy as a potential therapeutic avenue for treatment of these common neurodegenerative diseases.