Aggregation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) is implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Therefore, the removal of α-Syn aggregation could lead to the development of many new therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study, we succeeded in generating a new α-Syn stably expressing cell line using a piggyBac transposon system to investigate the neuroprotective effect of the flavonoid kaempferol on α-Syn toxicity. We found that kaempferol provided significant protection against α-Syn-related neurotoxicity. Furthermore, kaempferol induced autophagy through an increase in the biogenesis of lysosomes by inducing the expression of transcription factor EB and reducing the accumulation of α-Syn; thus, kaempferol prevented neuronal cell death. Moreover, kaempferol directly blocked the amyloid fibril formation of α-Syn. These results support the therapeutic potential of kaempferol in diseases such as synucleinopathies that are characterized by α-Syn aggregates.
Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; autophagy; dementia with Lewy bodies; kaempferol; multiple system atrophy; synucleinopathies; α-synuclein.