National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Drug Discov Today. 2018 Mar;23(3):673-680. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2018.01.011. Epub 2018 Jan 6.
Recent studies have illuminated the crucial role of astrocytes in maintaining proper neuronal health and function. Abnormalities in astrocytic functions have now been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Historically, drug development programs for neurodegenerative diseases generally target only neurons, overlooking the contributions of astrocytes. Therefore, targeting both disease neurons and astrocytes offers a new approach for drug development for the treatment of neurological diseases. Looking forward, the co-culturing of human neurons with astrocytes could be the next evolutionary step in drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases.
最近的研究阐明了星形胶质细胞在维持神经元健康和功能方面的关键作用。星形胶质细胞功能异常现在与神经退行性疾病的发病机制有关，包括阿尔茨海默病（AD）、帕金森病（PD）、亨廷顿病（HD）和肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）。从历史上看，神经退行性疾病的药物开发计划通常仅针对神经元，而忽略了星形胶质细胞的贡献。因此，针对疾病神经元和星形胶质细胞的双重靶向为治疗神经疾病的药物开发提供了一种新方法。展望未来，人类神经元与星形胶质细胞的共培养可能是神经退行性疾病药物发现的下一个进化步骤。
