Advanced Glycation End Products in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have attracted interest as therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases. AGEs facilitate the onset and progression of various neurogenerative disorders due to their ability to promote cross-linking and aggregation of proteins. Further, the interaction between AGEs and receptor for AGEs (RAGE) activates neuroinflammatory, oxidative stress and excitotoxicity processes that contribute to neuronal cell death. Various therapeutic efforts have targeted lowering the production of AGEs, inhibiting RAGE or inhibiting some of the processes of the AGE-RAGE axis as potential treatments for these disorders. Whereas effective treatments for many neurodegenerative disorders remain elusive, such efforts offer promise to slow the progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Huntington’s disease (HD).