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Beyond taxol: microtubule-based treatment of disease and injury of the nervous system
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Beyond taxol: microtubule-based treatment of disease and injury of the nervous system

Peter W Baas and Fridoon J Ahmad
Brain (London, England : 1878), v 136(10), pp 2937-2951
Oct 2013
PMID: 23811322
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awt153View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

microtubule neuron taxol dendrite axon
Contemporary research has revealed a great deal of information on the behaviours of microtubules that underlie critical events in the lives of neurons. Microtubules in the neuron undergo dynamic assembly and disassembly, bundling and splaying, severing, and rapid transport as well as integration with other cytoskeletal elements such as actin filaments. These various behaviours are regulated by signalling pathways that affect microtubule-related proteins such as molecular motor proteins and microtubule severing enzymes, as well as a variety of proteins that promote the assembly, stabilization and bundling of microtubules. In recent years, translational neuroscientists have earmarked microtubules as a promising target for therapy of injury and disease of the nervous system. Proof-of-principle has come mainly from studies using taxol and related drugs to pharmacologically stabilize microtubules in animal models of nerve injury and disease. However, concerns persist that the negative consequences of abnormal microtubule stabilization may outweigh the positive effects. Other potential approaches include microtubule-active drugs with somewhat different properties, but also expanding the therapeutic toolkit to include intervention at the level of microtubule regulatory proteins.

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Collaboration types
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Clinical Neurology
Neurosciences
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