The Drug Development for Neurodegenerative Diseases
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 92
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Progressive neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke and others, have distinct etiologies. However, they all involve neuroinflammation during their accelerated progression. This review will focus on drugs that effectively reduce neuroinflammation by targeting the most challenging risk factors causing neurodegeneration and addressing age, genetic genotype, biochemical pathways, molecular modifications, biomarkers, and environmental and physical injuries that trigger the manifestation or enhance the neuroinflammatory process. The lack of novel, efficacious, attractive treatment options for debilitating neurodegenerative disorders has encouraged new scientific approaches to address potential neuroinflammation treatments. Drugs that cross the blood–brain barrier and increase innate immune microglial surveillance and activation in response to changes occurring in the aging brain and brain injuries have been developed. Enhanced brain immunity pathways have also been designed to dampen this microglial chronic activation and increase its conversion to protective, phagocytic corrective actions, including removing cytokines, toxins, and neural debris in the brain by its macrophage form. Neuroinflammation is the common thread associated with neurodegenerative diseases, but it is yet unknown at what point and how essential immune system function turns pathogenic for an individual. Lastly, we will review the improvement in the quality of life of sufferers as the clinical endpoint.
Dr. David R. Elmaleh
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- neurodegenerative disease
- drug treatment approaches
- quality of life improvement
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