In a search for efficient treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Old drugs for new approaches

Michail S Kukharsky; Veronika I Skvortsova; Sergey O Bachurin; Vladimir L Buchman

doi:10.1002/med.21725

In a search for efficient treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Old drugs for new approaches

Med Res Rev. 2021 Sep;41(5):2804-2822. doi: 10.1002/med.21725. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Authors

Michail S Kukharsky^{1

2}, Veronika I Skvortsova¹, Sergey O Bachurin², Vladimir L Buchman^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medical Biology, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
² Institute of Physiologically Active Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Region, Russian Federation.
³ School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.

PMID: 32815157
DOI: 10.1002/med.21725

Abstract

Recent progress in understanding the pathological changes in the nervous system and in certain other body systems (e.g., immune system) that lead to the development and progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) revealed a number of molecular and cellular processes that can potentially be used as therapeutic targets. Many of these processes are compromised not only in ALS but also in other diseases and a repertoire of drugs able to restore, at least partially, their functionality has been developed. In this review, we briefly describe current approaches to the repurposing of such "old" drugs for treatment of patients with ALS.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; clinical trials; disease mechanisms; drugs; therapeutic strategies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis* / drug therapy
Humans
Pharmaceutical Preparations*

Substances

Pharmaceutical Preparations