Mini Review
Same causes, same cures

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Abstract

Thanks to the continuing bio-medicinal efforts, similar causes underlying the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and prion diseases (PDs) have been revealed, which include oxidative stress, excessive transition metal ions, and misfolded/aggregated proteins. Therefore, the therapeutic strategy for one disease may be effective for the other. More interestingly, accumulating evidence indicates that not just the strategies but also the prescriptions may be shared by AD and PD treatments. In this review, we first summarize the known dual fighters against AD and PDs (which include antioxidants, metal chelators, and protein aggregation inhibitors), and then indicate that some super-dual-fighters may hit multiple targets implicated in AD and PDs, whose structural features highlight the importance of aromatic moiety and phenolic groups. These findings not only provide important clues to accelerating the screening of anti-AD and anti-PDs drugs but also help to understand the etiology of AD and PDs.

Section snippets

Portrait of dual fighters

First, since ROS is involved in the pathogenesis of AD and PDs [4], [5], antioxidants are expected to be of benefit for these diseases [6], [7], [8], [9]. Although convincing clinical evidence is still lacking, some modest therapeutic effects on AD and PDs have been observed for antioxidant combinations [7], [8], [9]. It is interesting to note that mixed tocopherols (vitamins E) are the common components in antioxidant prescriptions for AD and PDs [6], [7], [8], [9]. In addition, vitamin C,

Multipotency of dual fighters

Since multiple pathogenic factors are implicated in AD and PDs [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], the associated drug discovery paradigm is shifting from “one-drug, one-target” to “one-drug, multiple-targets”[37], [38], [39]. To fulfill the new strategy, one can resort to cocktails incorporating various compounds, such as antioxidants, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, cholinergic drugs, metal chelators, and amyloid inhibitors [6]. Alternatively, one can expect that one compound is endowed with

Conclusion

Similar causes underlying the pathogenesis of AD and PDs implicate that similar cures may exist for both kinds of diseases, which is well-illuminated by the presented dual fighters. Moreover, some super-dual-fighters may hit multiple targets implicated in AD and PDs, whose structural features highlight the importance of aromatic moiety and phenolic groups. These findings not only provide important clues to accelerating the screening of anti-AD and anti-PDs drugs but also help to understand the

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant 2003CB114400) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 30100035 and 30570383).

References (45)

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