Neurodegenerative disease: PDK1—a common therapeutic target for AD and prion disease?

Researchers in France have identified a possible role for 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) in progression of prion disease and Alzheimer disease (AD), indicating that this enzyme could be targeted therapeutically in both of these conditions. Inhibition of PDK1 leads to an increase in α-secretase activity at the neuronal surface, causing cellular prion protein (PrP^C) and amyloid precursor protein (APP) to be cleaved into nonpathogenic forms.

Nature Reviews Neurology 2013