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Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders
Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders whose incidence is likely to duplicate in the next 30 years along with the progressive aging of the western population. Non-cell-specific therapeutics or therapeutics designed to tackle aberrant pathways within neurons failed to slow...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8395029/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34440788 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10082019 |
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author | Valori, Chiara F. Possenti, Agostino Brambilla, Liliana Rossi, Daniela |
author_facet | Valori, Chiara F. Possenti, Agostino Brambilla, Liliana Rossi, Daniela |
author_sort | Valori, Chiara F. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders whose incidence is likely to duplicate in the next 30 years along with the progressive aging of the western population. Non-cell-specific therapeutics or therapeutics designed to tackle aberrant pathways within neurons failed to slow down or halt neurodegeneration. Yet, in the last few years, our knowledge of the importance of glial cells to maintain the central nervous system homeostasis in health conditions has increased exponentially, along with our awareness of their fundamental and multifaced role in pathological conditions. Among glial cells, astrocytes emerge as promising therapeutic targets in various neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we present the latest evidence showing the astonishing level of specialization that astrocytes display to fulfill the demands of their neuronal partners as well as their plasticity upon injury. Then, we discuss the controversies that fuel the current debate on these cells. We tackle evidence of a potential beneficial effect of cell therapy, achieved by transplanting astrocytes or their precursors. Afterwards, we introduce the different strategies proposed to modulate astrocyte functions in neurodegeneration, ranging from lifestyle changes to environmental cues. Finally, we discuss the challenges and the recent advancements to develop astrocyte-specific delivery systems. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8395029 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83950292021-08-28 Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders Valori, Chiara F. Possenti, Agostino Brambilla, Liliana Rossi, Daniela Cells Review Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders whose incidence is likely to duplicate in the next 30 years along with the progressive aging of the western population. Non-cell-specific therapeutics or therapeutics designed to tackle aberrant pathways within neurons failed to slow down or halt neurodegeneration. Yet, in the last few years, our knowledge of the importance of glial cells to maintain the central nervous system homeostasis in health conditions has increased exponentially, along with our awareness of their fundamental and multifaced role in pathological conditions. Among glial cells, astrocytes emerge as promising therapeutic targets in various neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we present the latest evidence showing the astonishing level of specialization that astrocytes display to fulfill the demands of their neuronal partners as well as their plasticity upon injury. Then, we discuss the controversies that fuel the current debate on these cells. We tackle evidence of a potential beneficial effect of cell therapy, achieved by transplanting astrocytes or their precursors. Afterwards, we introduce the different strategies proposed to modulate astrocyte functions in neurodegeneration, ranging from lifestyle changes to environmental cues. Finally, we discuss the challenges and the recent advancements to develop astrocyte-specific delivery systems. MDPI 2021-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8395029/ /pubmed/34440788 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10082019 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Review Valori, Chiara F. Possenti, Agostino Brambilla, Liliana Rossi, Daniela Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders |
title | Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders |
title_full | Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders |
title_fullStr | Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders |
title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders |
title_short | Challenges and Opportunities of Targeting Astrocytes to Halt Neurodegenerative Disorders |
title_sort | challenges and opportunities of targeting astrocytes to halt neurodegenerative disorders |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8395029/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34440788 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10082019 |
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