Cyclin dependent kinase 5: A novel avenue for Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most frequently encountered diseases in adults with progressive loss of memory and behavioral changes. Inspite of there being an intense research in the field of AD, only a few chemical entities exhibiting anti-AD activity make it through the clinical trials and it is thus need of an hour to develop new drugs or repurpose the existing ones for better management of Alzheimer's disease. Novel therapeutic targets can influence drug discovery in the field of AD. Cyclin Dependent Kinase 5 (Cdk5) which is a serine/threonine kinase can prove to be an upcoming beneficial target to be studied for treating AD. Cdk5 is important for development of CNS and neuron movements, however in AD pathological stimuli cause Cdk5 hyperactivation which eventually results in hyperphosphorylation of various substrates such as amyloid precursor protein, tau and many more. This review provides an insight on Cdk5 as a target for treatment of AD and discuss therapeutic candidates for targeting it.