Astrocytes Reprogramming for Neurodegenerative Disease Management

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders (NDD) are chronic conditions that lead to nerve cells degeneration in the central nervous system. The most common NDD are Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Huntington's disease (HD). Parkinson's disease (PD) is recognized as the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Huntington disease (HD). Astrocytes reprogramming has been recently proposed as one of the most important treatments to stop the progression of these neurological diseases. By targeting the microRNA, astrocytes in the animal brain could be reprogrammed into various functional neural systems. Activation of endogenous genes could be a revolutionary therapeutic approach for treating neurological diseases. Reprogrammed astrocytes could also be used to generate various types of neurons lost in case of Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. The ability to reprogram astrocytes into functional neurons was classified as a new advancement for PD, AD, and HD treatments.