Decoding Neurodegeneration: A Comprehensive Review of Molecular Mechanisms, Genetic Influences, and Therapeutic Innovations

Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Aug 21;24(16):13006. doi: 10.3390/ijms241613006.

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders often acquire due to genetic predispositions and genomic alterations after exposure to multiple risk factors. The most commonly found pathologies are variations of dementia, such as frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia, as well as rare subtypes of cerebral and cerebellar atrophy-based syndromes. In an emerging era of biomedical advances, molecular-cellular studies offer an essential avenue for a thorough recognition of the underlying mechanisms and their possible implications in the patient's symptomatology. This comprehensive review is focused on deciphering molecular mechanisms and the implications regarding those pathologies' clinical advancement and provides an analytical overview of genetic mutations in the case of neurodegenerative disorders. With the help of well-developed modern genetic investigations, these clinically complex disturbances are highly understood nowadays, being an important step in establishing molecularly targeted therapies and implementing those approaches in the physician's practice.

Keywords: frontotemporal dementia; genetic mutations; molecular mechanisms; neurodegenerative disorders; protein-encoding gene; tauopathies.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Atrophy
  • Frontotemporal Dementia* / genetics
  • Frontotemporal Dementia* / therapy
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genomics
  • Humans
  • Lewy Body Disease*

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.