Vascular endothelial growth factor:a double-edged sword in the development of white matter lesions

As the population ages,the burden of age-related diseases becomes greater.Currently,over 55 million people suffer from dementia worldwide,with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common form.However,it is becoming clearer that underlying vascular pathology such as cerebral small vessel disease(cSVD)may be a more detrimental cause for dementia(Cuadrado-Godia et al.,2018).It is estimated that 10%-30%of the elderly population and 35%-90%of all dementia patients exhibit signs of cSVD.The term cSVD refers to pathology affecting the small vessels of the brain,which can lead to lacunar cerebral infarcts,enlarged perivascular spaces,and cortical hemorrhages(Cuadrado-Godia et al.,2018).CSVD is often associated with cognitive decline,gait problems,and dementia(Cuadrado-Godia et al.,2018).

LINGO-1 and AMIGO3, potential therapeutic targets for neurological and dysmyelinating disorders？

Leucine rich repeat proteins have gained considerable interest as therapeutic targets due to their expression and biological activity within the central nervous system. LINGO-1 has received particular attention since it inhibits axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury in a Rho A dependent manner while inhibiting leucine rich repeat and immunoglobulin-like domain-containing protein 1（LINGO-1） disinhibits neuron outgrowth. Furthermore, LINGO-1 suppresses oligodendrocyte precursor cell maturation and myelin production. Inhibiting the action of LINGO-1 encourages remyelination both in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, LINGO-1 antagonists show promise as therapies for demyelinating diseases. An analogous protein to LINGO-1, amphoterin-induced gene and open reading frame-3（AMIGO3）, exerts the same inhibitory effect on the axonal outgrowth of central nervous system neurons, as well as interacting with the same receptors as LINGO-1. However, AMIGO3 is upregulated more rapidly after spinal cord injury than LINGO-1. We speculate that AMIGO3 has a similar inhibitory effect on oligodendrocyte precursor cell maturation and myelin production as with axogenesis. Therefore, inhibiting AMIGO3 will likely encourage central nervous system axonal regeneration as well as the production of myelin from local oligodendrocyte precursor cell, thus providing a promising therapeutic target and an area for future investigation.

Reviving the use of inhibitors of matrix metalloproteases in spinal cord injury:a case for specificity

At present,there are no resto rative therapies in the clinic for spinal cord injury,with current treatments offering only palliative treatment options.The role of matrix metalloproteases is well established in spinal cord injury,howeve r,translation into the clinical space was plagued by early designs of matrix metalloprotease inhibitors that lacked specificity and fears of musculos keletal syndrome prevented their further development.Newe r,much more specific matrix metalloprotease inhibitors have revived the possibility of using these inhibitors in the clinic since they are much more specific to their to rget matrix metalloproteases.Here,the evidence for use of matrix metalloproteases after spinal cord injury is reviewed and researche rs are urged to overcome their old fears rega rding matrix metalloprotease inhibition and possible side effects for the field to progress.Recently published work by us shows that inhibition of specific matrix metalloproteases after spinal cord injury holds promise since four key consequences of spinal cord injury could be alleviated by specific,next-gene ration matrix metalloprotease inhibitors.For example,specific inhibition of matrix metalloprotease-9 and matrix metalloprotease-12 within 24 hours after injury and for 3 days,alleviates spinal cord injury-induced edema,blood-s pinal co rd barrier breakdown,neuro pathic pain and resto res sensory and locomotor function.Attempts are now underway to translate this therapy into the clinic.

Decorin treatment for reversing trabecular meshwork fibrosis in open-angle glaucoma

In this perspective,we discuss the use of an anti-fibrotic agent Decorin to treat established fibrosis associated with glaucoma originally published by Hill et al.（2015）.Glaucoma describes a group of progressive optic neuropathies that have the potential to cause irreversible blindness.