Poliquin Sarah, Kang Jing-Qiong
Neuroscience Graduate Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
Biomedicines. 2022 Mar 11;10(3):647. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10030647.
The epilepsies are a broad group of conditions characterized by repeated seizures, and together are one of the most common neurological disorders. Additionally, epilepsy is comorbid with many neurological disorders, including lysosomal storage diseases, syndromic intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorder. Despite the prevalence, treatments are still unsatisfactory: approximately 30% of epileptic patients do not adequately respond to existing therapeutics, which primarily target ion channels. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches are needed. Disturbed proteostasis is an emerging mechanism in epilepsy, with profound effects on neuronal health and function. Proteostasis, the dynamic balance of protein synthesis and degradation, can be directly disrupted by epilepsy-associated mutations in various components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), or impairments can be secondary to seizure activity or misfolded proteins. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress can arise from failed proteostasis and result in neuronal death. In light of this, several treatment modalities that modify components of proteostasis have shown promise in the management of neurological disorders. These include chemical chaperones to assist proper folding of proteins, inhibitors of overly active protein degradation, and enhancers of endogenous proteolytic pathways, such as the UPS. This review summarizes recent work on the pathomechanisms of abnormal protein folding and degradation in epilepsy, as well as treatment developments targeting this area.
癫痫是一组以反复发作为特征的疾病,是最常见的神经系统疾病之一。此外,癫痫与许多神经系统疾病共病,包括溶酶体贮积病、综合征性智力障碍和自闭症谱系障碍。尽管发病率很高,但治疗效果仍不尽人意:约30%的癫痫患者对主要针对离子通道的现有疗法反应不佳。因此,需要新的治疗方法。蛋白质稳态紊乱是癫痫中一种新出现的机制,对神经元健康和功能有深远影响。蛋白质稳态是蛋白质合成与降解的动态平衡,可被泛素-蛋白酶体系统(UPS)各组分中的癫痫相关突变直接破坏,或者功能障碍可能继发于癫痫发作活动或错误折叠的蛋白质。内质网(ER)应激可由蛋白质稳态失调引起,并导致神经元死亡。鉴于此,几种调节蛋白质稳态组分的治疗方式在神经系统疾病的管理中已显示出前景。这些包括协助蛋白质正确折叠的化学伴侣、过度活跃的蛋白质降解抑制剂以及内源性蛋白水解途径(如UPS)的增强剂。本综述总结了癫痫中异常蛋白质折叠和降解的发病机制以及针对该领域的治疗进展。