Neuroinflammation: A Common Line Between the Wnt Pathway and Toll-Like Receptors

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders constitute a worldwide concern attributable to the ageing of the human population. In this context, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for up to 70% of dementia cases worldwide. With no effective treatment available, new therapeutic alternatives are under assessment. Recently, several researchers have highlighted the need to include the multifactorial aetiology of AD as part of the design and evaluation of novel AD-therapies. Thus, it is not enough to only understand the critical molecular events that occur during AD pathophysiology, but to unveil the crosstalk between these events as well as its interplay with different biological subsystems. This is the case for neuroinflammation, an extremely complex response, widely recognised as a main contributor of AD-linked neurodegeneration but poorly understood in terms of its physiological interactions. Accordingly, based on previous work regarding the relationship between the Wnt signalling pathway and toll-like receptor-mediated inflammatory response, this review provides an update to the integrative view of this communication and discusses future directions of research focussed on modulating the inflammatory response within the central nervous system of AD patients.

Keywords

• alzheimer's disease (ad)
• amyloid-β (aβ)
• neuroinflammation
• toll-like receptors (tlr)
• wnt signalling pathway