Minocycline as a potential therapeutic agent in neurodegenerative disorders characterised by protein misfolding.

Author(s): Noble W, Garwood CJ, Hanger DP

Affiliation(s): Department of Neuroscience, MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. wendy.noble@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Publication date & source: 2009-04, Prion., 3(2):78-83. Epub 2009 Apr 21.

Publication type: Review

Many neurodegenerative disorders share common features including the accumulation of aggregated misfolded proteins, neuroinflammation and the induction of apoptosis. While the contributions of each of these individual elements to neuronal death remain unclear, a commonly used antibiotic, minocycline, has been shown to reduce the progression and severity of disease in several models of neurodegeneration by variously downregulating these molecular pathways. Here we discuss the evidence for the potential of minocycline as a broad-specificity therapeutic agent for those neurodegenerative diseases that are characterized by the presence of misfolded proteins.