(1) Background: Numerous prions exist in the budding yeast, including [SWI+], the prion form of Swi1—a subunit of the chromatin-remodeling complex SWI/SNF. Despite decades of research, the molecular mechanisms underlying prion initiation and pr...
Prion diseases affect both animals and humans. Research in the natural animal model of the disease could help in the understanding of neuropathological mechanisms and in the development of biomarkers for human pathologies. For this purpose, we studie...
Soluble oligomeric forms of Amyloid-β (Aβ) are considered the major toxic species leading to the neurodegeneration underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Therefore, drugs that prevent oligomer formation might be promising. The atypical...
Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is processed along both the nonamyloidogenic pathway preventing amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) production and the amyloidogenic pathway, generating Aβ, whose accumulation characterizes Alzheimer’s disease. I...
Prion diseases are 100% fatal infectious neurodegenerative diseases affecting the brains of humans and other mammals. The disease is caused by the formation and replication of prions, composed exclusively of the misfolded prion protein (PrPSc). We in...
The conversion of cellular prion protein (PrPC) into pathogenic prion isoforms (PrPSc) and the mutation of PRNP are definite causes of prion diseases. Unfortunately, without exception, prion diseases are untreatable and fatal neurodegenerative disord...
A cellular prion protein (PrPC) is a ubiquitous cell surface glycoprotein, and its physiological functions have been receiving increased attention. Endogenous PrPC is present in various kidney tissues and undergoes glomerular filtration. In prion dis...
Background: The mutation rate of p53 in breast cancer is around 20%. Specific p53 mutations exhibit prion-like abnormal misfolding and aggregation and gain oncogenic function, causing resistance to the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. In this study, we...
TDP-43 is a ubiquitous nuclear protein that plays a central role in neurodegenerative disorders collectively known as TDP-43 proteinopathies. Under physiological conditions, TDP-43 is primarily localized to the nucleus, but in its pathological form i...
This review presents the main properties of hydroxycinnamic acid (HCA) derivatives and their potential application as agents for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. It is partially focused on the successful use of these compou...
6-Aminopyridine-3,5-dicarbonitriles and 3,6-diamino-5-cyanothieno[2,3-b]pyridines are well known as compounds with a broad spectrum of bioactivity. In particular, such thienopyridines are known as inhibitors of scrapie prion infection replication and...
The fused in sarcoma (FUS) protein combines prion-like properties with a multifunctional DNA/RNA-binding domain and has functions spanning the regulation of RNA metabolism, including transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA transport and translation. I...
Renal carcinoma cells express Membrane Type 1-Matrix Metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP, MMP-14) to degrade extracellular matrix components and a range of bioactive molecules to allow metastasis and cell proliferation. The activity of MT1-MMP is modulated by...
We have previously reported that pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) prevents the amyloid formation of α-synuclein, amyloid β1–42 (Aβ1–42), and mouse prion protein. Moreover, PQQ-modified α-synuclein and a proteolytic fragment of the PQQ-modified α-synuc...
Worldwide spread of influenza A virus (IAV) strains, which are resistant to currently available anti- influenza agents such as viral neuraminidase inhibitors, has encouraged identification of new target molecules for anti-influenza agents. Reactive o...
Amyloids were conventionally referred to as extracellular and intracellular accumulation of Aβ42 peptide, which causes the formation of plaques and neurofibrillary tangles inside the brain leading to the pathogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease...
The assembly of amyloidogenic proteins and peptides into toxic oligomeric and fibrillar aggregates is closely connected to the onset and progression of more than 50 protein diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, prion...
Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells (hDPSCs) represent a type of adult mesenchymal stem cells that have the ability to differentiate in vitro in several lineages such as odontoblasts, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes and neurons. In the current work, w...
Peptides possess a number of pharmacologically desirable properties, including greater chemical diversity than other biomolecule classes and the ability to selectively bind to specific targets with high potency, as well as biocompatibility, biodegrad...
Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by redistribution of the tau protein pool from soluble to aggregated states. Aggregation forms proteolytically stable core polymers restricted to the repeat domain, and this binding interaction has prion-like prop...
PDE11A is a little-studied phosphodiesterase sub-family that breaks down cAMP/cGMP, with the PDE11A4 isoform enriched in the memory-related hippocampal formation. Age-related increases in PDE11A expression occur in human and rodent hippocampus and ca...
Cells from glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) feature up-regulation of the mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR), which brings deleterious effects on malignancy and disease course. At the cellular level, up-regulation of mTOR affects a number of downstre...
The brain–gut axis has been identified as an important contributor to the physiopathology of Parkinson’s disease. In this pathology, inflammation is thought to be driven by the damage caused by aggregation of α-synuclein in the brai...
The enormous, 2–3-million-year evolutionary expansion of hominin neocortices to the current enormity enabled humans to take over the planet. However, there appears to have been a glitch, and it occurred without a compensatory expansion of the e...
Higher prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is strictly connected with progressive aging of the world population. Interestingly, a broad range of age-related, neurodegenerative diseases is characterized by a common pathological mechanism—ac...
Availability of PET imaging radiotracers targeting α-synuclein aggregates is important for early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and related α-synucleinopathies, as well as for the development of new therapeutics. Derived from a py...
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) and the presence of intracellular α-synuclein (αSyn) aggregates known as Lewy bodies...
Oligomerization and/or aggregation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) triggers α-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. It is known that α-Syn can spread in the brain like prions; however, the m...
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), such as tau, beta-amyloid (Aβ), and alpha-synuclein (αSyn), are prone to misfolding, resulting in pathological aggregation and propagation that drive neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer...
Soluble amyloid β (Aβ) oligomers have been shown to be highly toxic to neurons and are considered to be a major cause of the neurodegeneration underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD). That makes soluble Aβ oligomers a promising drug...
Altered RNA editing has been linked to several neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability, in addition to depression, schizophrenia, some cancers, viral infections and autoimmune disorders. The...
Background and Objectives: The integrated stress response (ISR) is a convergent node in neurodegeneration. We systematically mapped open-access mammalian in vivo evidence for synthetic ISR modulators, comparing efficacy signals, biomarker engagement,...