Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2007 Feb;28(2):68-74.
doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2006.12.005. Epub 2007 Jan 10.

GDNF family receptor complexes are emerging drug targets

Affiliations
Review

GDNF family receptor complexes are emerging drug targets

Maxim M Bespalov et al. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2007 Feb.

Abstract

Glial-cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family ligands (GFLs), which consist of GDNF, neurturin, artemin and persephin, regulate the development and maintenance of the nervous system. GDNF protects and repairs dopamine-containing neurons, which degenerate in Parkinson's disease, and motoneurons, which die in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. GDNF and neurturin have shown promise in clinical trials of Parkinson's disease, and artemin is currently undergoing clinical trials for chronic pain treatment. However, the delivery of GFLs into the brain through invasive approaches such as neurosurgery, viral vectors or by the use of encapsulated cells is associated with multiple obstacles. The development of small molecules that specifically activate GFL receptors and that can be applied systemically would overcome most of these problems. The unique nature of the GFL receptors, recent progress in elucidation of the 3D structures of GFLs and GFL-receptor complexes and the use of high-throughput screening have resulted in the development of the first small molecules that mimic the effects of the different GFLs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources