These data suggest that CNTF originated from TRPV1 activated astrocytes may be beneficial to treat neurodegenerative disease associated with neuro-inflammation such as Parkinson's disease.
The mechanisms underlying CNTF-mediated neuroprotection were explored through transcriptome analysis, revealing widespread upregulation of proteolysis inhibitors, which may prevent cellular/extracellular matrix degradation and complement activation in neurodegenerative diseases.
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is characterized as a neuropoietic cytokine for a broad spectrum of neurons, leading to its evaluation in humans suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.
Together, these results indicate that rhCNTF fused with the protein transduction domain/TAT retains neurotrophic activity in the absence of CNTFs cytokine-like side effects and may be a promising candidate for the treatment of motor neuron and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Ciliary neurotrophic factor null alleles are not a risk factor for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, hereditary neuropathy with pressure palsies and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
In adult rats, intrathecal implantation of encapsulated hCNTF-C2C12 cells or control C2C12 confirmed the long-term survival of these cells and their potential use as a source of neurotophic factors for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Neurotrophic factors, such as ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), have been implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a human neurodegenerative disease primarily of upper and lower motor neurones.