Mechanism of pyroptosis in neurodegenerative diseases and its therapeutic potential by traditional Chinese medicine

Yanfang Liao; Xue Wang; Liting Huang; Hu Qian; Wei Liu

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1122104

Mechanism of pyroptosis in neurodegenerative diseases and its therapeutic potential by traditional Chinese medicine

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Jan 13:14:1122104. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1122104. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yanfang Liao¹, Xue Wang¹, Liting Huang¹, Hu Qian², Wei Liu^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² Department of Breast Cancer Oncology, Foshan No 1 Hospital, Foshan, China.
³ The First Clinical Medicine College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
⁴ Integrative Cancer Centre, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou, University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are disorders characterized by degenerative degeneration of neurons and loss of their function. NDs have a complicated pathophysiology, of which neuroinflammation and neuronal death are significant factors. The inflammatory process known as pyroptosis ("fiery death") is caused by a family of pore-forming proteins called Gasdermins (GSDMs), which appears downstream from the activation of the inflammasome. Clear evidence of enhanced pyroptosis-related proteins activity in common NDs has coincided with abnormal aggregation of pathological proteins (such as Aβ, tau, α-synuclein et al.), making pyroptosis an attractive direction for the recent study of NDs. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the molecular mechanisms driving pyroptosis, the mechanistic links between pyroptosis and NDs, and emerging therapeutic strategies in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to inhibit pyroptosis for the treatment of NDs.

Keywords: neurodegenerative diseases; neuroinflammation; neuroprotection; pyroptosis; traditional Chinese medicine.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82004300 and 81973816), the Science Research Program of Guangdong Province (No. 2019A1515110236), the Key Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2020B1111100011), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2022A1515011645), and the Special Foundation of Guangdong Educational Committee (No. 2021KTSCX022).