Protein recycling pathways in neurodegenerative diseases

Many progressive neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, Huntington disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal lobe dementia, are associated with the formation of insoluble intracellular proteinaceous inclusions. It is therefore imperative to understand the factors that regulate normal, as well as abnormal, protein recycling in neurons. Dysfunction of the ubiquitin-proteasome or autophagy pathways might contribute to the pathology of various neurodegenerative diseases. Induction of these pathways may offer a rational therapeutic strategy for a number of these diseases.