PI3K/AKT Signal Pathway: A Target of Natural Products in the Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease

Overview

Journal Front Pharmacol

Date 2021 May 3

PMID 33935751

Citations 136

Authors

Hui-Zhi Long

Yan Cheng

Zi-Wei Zhou

Hong-Yu Luo

Dan-Dan Wen

Li-Chen Gao

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are two typical neurodegenerative diseases that increased with aging. With the emergence of aging population, the health problem and economic burden caused by the two diseases also increase. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway regulates signal transduction and biological processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis and metabolism. According to reports, it regulates neurotoxicity and mediates the survival of neurons through different substrates such as forkhead box protein Os (FoxOs), glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), and caspase-9. Accumulating evidences indicate that some natural products can play a neuroprotective role by activating PI3K/AKT pathway, providing an effective resource for the discovery of potential therapeutic drugs. This article reviews the relationship between AKT signaling pathway and AD and PD, and discusses the potential natural products based on the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway to treat two diseases in recent years, hoping to provide guidance and reference for this field. Further development of Chinese herbal medicine is needed to treat these two diseases.

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