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A Novel Anti-Inflammatory <span style="font-variant: small-caps">d</span>-Peptide Inhibits Disease Phenotype Progression in an ALS Mouse Model
oleh: Julia Post, Vanessa Kogel, Anja Schaffrath, Philipp Lohmann, N. Jon Shah, Karl-Josef Langen, Dieter Willbold, Antje Willuweit, Janine Kutzsche
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2021-03-01 |
Deskripsi
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterised by selective neuronal death in the brain stem and spinal cord. The cause is unknown, but an increasing amount of evidence has firmly certified that neuroinflammation plays a key role in ALS pathogenesis. Neuroinflammation is a pathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders and has been implicated as driver of disease progression. Here, we describe a treatment study demonstrating the therapeutic potential of a tandem version of the well-known all-<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">d</span>-peptide RD2 (RD2RD2) in a transgenic mouse model of ALS (SOD1*G93A). Mice were treated intraperitoneally for four weeks with RD2RD2 vs. placebo. SOD1*G93A mice were tested longitudinally during treatment in various behavioural and motor coordination tests. Brain and spinal cord samples were investigated immunohistochemically for gliosis and neurodegeneration. RD2RD2 treatment in SOD1*G93A mice resulted not only in a reduction of activated astrocytes and microglia in both the brain stem and lumbar spinal cord, but also in a rescue of neurons in the motor cortex. RD2RD2 treatment was able to slow progression of the disease phenotype, especially the motor deficits, to an extent that during the four weeks treatment duration, no significant progression was observed in any of the motor experiments. Based on the presented results, we conclude that RD2RD2 is a potential therapeutic candidate against ALS.