GSK-3 Inhibitors: A new class of drugs for Alzheimer's Disease Treatment.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a chronic neurodegenerative disease, is the most common form of dementia that causes cognitive function impairment, including memory, thinking, and behavioral changes that ultimately lead to death. The over activation of GSK-3, an enzyme from the proline/serine Ki NS family, has been associated with hyper-phosphorylation of tau proteins. Hyper-phosphorylated tau proteins self-assemble to form tangles of straight and helical filaments are known to be involved in AD. Therefore, GSK-3 has been considered a potential target of novel drug discovery for AD treatment. The research on the development of GSK-3 inhibitors has received enormous attention from the vast scientific community because they are targeted for AD and other diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cancers, stroke, Parkinson's disease, bipolar disorder etc. Various drugs originated from synthetic and natural origins have been designed to inhibit GSK-3 activity. However, there is a need to develop novel drug candidates that are selective in the inhibition of GSK3. Hence, this review summarizes the potential of GSK-3 inhibitors for AD therapy. The structure-activity relationship of current drug molecules and the potential problems associated with them are discussed in detail. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.