Treating neurodegenerative disease with drugs that inhibit the activity of caspases (proteases that regulate apoptosis) is a therapeutic avenue beginning to be explored.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Propofol and magnesium attenuate isoflurane-induced caspase-3 activation via inhibiting mitochondrial permeability transition pore
Medical Gas Research Open Access 17 August 2012
-
RNA interference-mediated silencing of BACE and APP attenuates the isoflurane-induced caspase activation
Medical Gas Research Open Access 28 April 2011
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Oppenheim, R.W. Cell death during the development of the nervous system. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 14, 453–501 (1991).
Kerr, J.F.R., Wyllie, A.H. & Currie, A.R. Apoptosis: A basic biological phenomenon with wide-ranging implications in tissue kinetics. Br. J. Cancer 26, 239–257 (1972).
Schwartz, L.M. & Milligan, C.E. Cold thoughts of death: the role of ICE proteases in neuronal death. Trends Neursci. 19, 555–562 (1996).
Hara, H. et al. Inhibition of interleukin 1β converting enzyme family proteases reduces ischemic and ex citotoxic neuronal damage. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 94, 2007–2012 (1997).
Johnson, E.M., Deckwerth, T.L. & Deshmukh, M. Neuronal death in developmental models: Possible implications in neuropathology. Brain Pathol. 6, 397–409 (1996).
Friedlander, R.M., Brown, R.H., Cagliardini, V., Wang, J. & Yuan, J. Inhibition of ICE slows ALS in mice. Nature. 388, 31 (1997).
Kim, T.-W., Pettingell, W.H., Jung, Y.-K., Kovacs, D.M. & Tanzi, R.E. Alternative cleavage of Alzheimer-associated presenilins during apoptosis by a caspase-3 family protease. Science 277, 373–376 (1997).
Ellis, R.E. & Horvitz, H.R. Genetic control of programmed cell death in the nematode. C. elegans. Cell 44, 817–829 (1986).
Milligan, C.E. et al. Peptide inhibitors of the ICE protease family arrest programmed cell death of motoneurons in vivo and in vitro. Neuron 15, 385–393 (1995).
Kuida, K. et al. Decreased apoptosis in the brain and premature lethality in CPP32-deficient mice. Nature 384, 368–372 (1996).
Deshmukh, M. & Johnson, E.M., Programmed cell death in neurons: focus on the pathway of nerve growth factor deprivation-induced death of sympathetic neurons. Mol. Pharmacol. 51, 897–906 (1997).
Werth, J.L., Cocabo, J., Deshmukh, M., Johnson, E.M. & Rothman, S. M. Physiological properties of SCG neurons prevented from undergoing programmed cell death. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. (in the press).
Kostic, V., Jackson-Lewis, V., de Bilbao, F., Dubois-Dauphin, M. & Przedborski, S. Bcl-2: Prolonging life in a transgenic mouse model of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Science 277, 559–562 (1997).
Sagot, Y. et al. Bcl-2 overexpression prevents motoneuron cell body loss but not axonal degeneration in a mouse model of neurodegenerative disease. J. Neurosci. 15, 7727–7733 (1995).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holtzman, D., Deshmukh, M. Caspases: A treatment target for neurodegenerative disease?. Nat Med 3, 954–955 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0997-954
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0997-954
This article is cited by
-
Procaspase-activating compound-1 induces apoptosis in Trypanosoma cruzi
Apoptosis (2017)
-
Anesthetic Propofol Attenuates Apoptosis, Aβ Accumulation, and Inflammation Induced by Sevoflurane Through NF-κB Pathway in Human Neuroglioma Cells
Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology (2015)
-
Propofol and magnesium attenuate isoflurane-induced caspase-3 activation via inhibiting mitochondrial permeability transition pore
Medical Gas Research (2012)
-
RNA interference-mediated silencing of BACE and APP attenuates the isoflurane-induced caspase activation
Medical Gas Research (2011)
-
BAX Contributes to Apoptotic-Like Death Following Neonatal Hypoxia-Ischemia: Evidence for Distinct Apoptosis Pathways
Molecular Medicine (2001)