Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes
The available treatments for patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are not curative. Numerous clinical trials have failed during the past decades. Therefore, scientists need to explore new avenues to tackle this disease. In the present review, we briefly summarize the pathological mechanisms...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Biomolecules |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/11/4/600 |
| _version_ | 1797537204872937472 |
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| author | Marta Valenza Roberta Facchinetti Giorgia Menegoni Luca Steardo Caterina Scuderi |
| author_facet | Marta Valenza Roberta Facchinetti Giorgia Menegoni Luca Steardo Caterina Scuderi |
| author_sort | Marta Valenza |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The available treatments for patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are not curative. Numerous clinical trials have failed during the past decades. Therefore, scientists need to explore new avenues to tackle this disease. In the present review, we briefly summarize the pathological mechanisms of AD known so far, based on which different therapeutic tools have been designed. Then, we focus on a specific approach that is targeting astrocytes. Indeed, these non-neuronal brain cells respond to any insult, injury, or disease of the brain, including AD. The study of astrocytes is complicated by the fact that they exert a plethora of homeostatic functions, and their disease-induced changes could be context-, time-, and disease specific. However, this complex but fervent area of research has produced a large amount of data targeting different astrocytic functions using pharmacological approaches. Here, we review the most recent literature findings that have been published in the last five years to stimulate new hypotheses and ideas to work on, highlighting the peculiar ability of palmitoylethanolamide to modulate astrocytes according to their morpho-functional state, which ultimately suggests a possible potential disease-modifying therapeutic approach for AD. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:12:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ac789dd20b664562b5a8b568e8f61968 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2218-273X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:12:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biomolecules |
| spelling | doaj.art-ac789dd20b664562b5a8b568e8f619682023-11-21T16:07:05ZengMDPI AGBiomolecules2218-273X2021-04-0111460010.3390/biom11040600Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on AstrocytesMarta Valenza0Roberta Facchinetti1Giorgia Menegoni2Luca Steardo3Caterina Scuderi4Department of Physiology and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”, SAPIENZA University of Rome—P.le A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Physiology and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”, SAPIENZA University of Rome—P.le A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Physiology and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”, SAPIENZA University of Rome—P.le A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Physiology and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”, SAPIENZA University of Rome—P.le A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Physiology and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”, SAPIENZA University of Rome—P.le A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, ItalyThe available treatments for patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are not curative. Numerous clinical trials have failed during the past decades. Therefore, scientists need to explore new avenues to tackle this disease. In the present review, we briefly summarize the pathological mechanisms of AD known so far, based on which different therapeutic tools have been designed. Then, we focus on a specific approach that is targeting astrocytes. Indeed, these non-neuronal brain cells respond to any insult, injury, or disease of the brain, including AD. The study of astrocytes is complicated by the fact that they exert a plethora of homeostatic functions, and their disease-induced changes could be context-, time-, and disease specific. However, this complex but fervent area of research has produced a large amount of data targeting different astrocytic functions using pharmacological approaches. Here, we review the most recent literature findings that have been published in the last five years to stimulate new hypotheses and ideas to work on, highlighting the peculiar ability of palmitoylethanolamide to modulate astrocytes according to their morpho-functional state, which ultimately suggests a possible potential disease-modifying therapeutic approach for AD.https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/11/4/600Alzheimer’s diseaseastrocytesastrogliosisbeta amyloidneuroinflammationneuroprotection |
| spellingShingle | Marta Valenza Roberta Facchinetti Giorgia Menegoni Luca Steardo Caterina Scuderi Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes Biomolecules Alzheimer’s disease astrocytes astrogliosis beta amyloid neuroinflammation neuroprotection |
| title | Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes |
| title_full | Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes |
| title_fullStr | Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes |
| title_short | Alternative Targets to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease: Focus on Astrocytes |
| title_sort | alternative targets to fight alzheimer s disease focus on astrocytes |
| topic | Alzheimer’s disease astrocytes astrogliosis beta amyloid neuroinflammation neuroprotection |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/11/4/600 |
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