The induction of heat shock proteins as a potential strategy to treat neurodegenerative disorders.

Neurodegenerative diseases, whether acute or chronic, are a tremendous medical problem in the modern world. Therapies are rare and only applied after a vast amount of neurons are lost. Many efforts have been made to develop new strategies to treat these disorders, but so far, there has been no breakthrough. A characteristic shared by some experimental neuroprotective substances is the induction of the heat shock response, in particular the expression of the heat shock proteins Hsp70 and Hsp27. These Hsps protect cells from cell death induced by various noxious stimuli and inhibit various cellular death pathways. Gene therapy, transgenic mice and drugs inducing Hsps in the brain decrease the infarction area after ischemia and protect neurons and nonneuronal cells of the brain. Furthermore, recent data hint toward a protective role of Hsps in chronic neurological diseases. The induction of Hsps as a possible treatment for stroke, Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease is discussed. (c) 2004 Prous Science. All rights reserved.