Neurodegenerative Diseases and Small Molecule Protein Chaperone Activator of Natural Origin

Progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affect millions of people around the world. In addition, these diseases cause emotional, medical, and financial burden on the caregivers and the society. Common symptoms of these patients in include depression, memory impairment, anxiety, and defective motor function. A major pathological signature of these diseases is the accumulation of aggregates of different proteins in different parts in the brain. Unfortunately, there is no cure yet; presently management options are available which provides some relief from the disease symptoms. Intense investigations are ongoing by independent research groups to develop an effective novel therapy to protect these helpless patients. Because misfolding of proteins is a common pathological marker, upregulation of protein chaperones in the affected area is being considered as a promising therapeutic approach to treat these diseases. Small molecules of natural origins of distinct mode of actions have been identified that modulate activity of different components of chaperone signaling pathway with a positive outcome in the animal models. In this book chapter, we provide an account on the association of deregulated protein chaperone pathway and the prospect of small molecule modulators of natural origin with therapeutic prospect.