Prolyl oligopeptidase (PREP) is a serine protease that has been studied particularly in the context of neurodegenerative diseases for decades but its physiological function has remained unclear.
Thus, PREP inhibitors may offer a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders with an inflammatory component including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
This commentary will focus on less well-acknowledged non-enzymatic functions of PREP that may provide a better approach for the development of PREP inhibitors for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
Prolyl oligopeptidase (POP), a serine protease highly expressed in the brain, has recently emerged as an enticing therapeutic target for the treatment of cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders.
The members of prolyl oligopeptidase family play important roles in many physiological processes such as neurodegenerative diseases, maturation and degradation of peptide hormones.
These results demonstrate the potential for PEP-1-PEA-15 to provide a new strategy for protein therapy treatment of a variety of neurodegenerative diseases including PD.