Nanomaterials for neurodegenerative diseases: Molecular mechanisms guided design and applications

• Published in: Nano research 2022-04, Vol.15 (4), p.3299-3322
• Main Authors: Li, Tianzhong, Hou, Xueyan, Qi, Yu, Duan, Xiaohan, Yan, Pengcheng, Zhu, Haoru, Xie, Zhongjian, Zhang, Han
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Chemistry and Materials Science; Clinical trials; Condensed Matter Physics; Drug development; Huntington's disease; Huntingtons disease; Materials Science; Molecular modelling; Movement disorders; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Neurodegenerative diseases; Parkinson's disease; Pathogenesis; Review Article; Signs and symptoms
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-021-3865-2

Successful treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Huntington’s disease (HD), remains a significant challenge for neurologists due to the undesirable curative outcomes. Apart from surgeries, most drugs are only used to relieve the patients’ symptoms without a permanent cure of the disease. The development of novel biomaterials targeting NDDs is greatly hindered by the limited understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms. Considering the difficulties in NDD drug development and clinical trials, a comprehensive and up-to-date review of disease pathogenesis and related novel therapies are needed. In the current article, the basic concepts and pathogenic characteristics of NDDs are firstly illustrated. Following the detailed description of molecular mechanisms underlying three common NDDs, recent advances of drug development based on targeting different pathogenic mechanisms are clarified. Hopefully, this review will be beneficial to address the gap between materials and targeted mechanisms while simultaneously provide suggestions for the future design of precise NDD medicine.