Current Evidence on the Involvement of RAGE-Diaph1 Signaling in the Pathology and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases – an Overview

Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of disorders characterized by the progressive deterioration of structure and function of central nervous system neurons and include, among others, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s (PD), Alzheimer’s (AD) and Huntington’s (HD) diseases. And while all these diseases seem to have different genetic and environmental components, growing evidence shows that they share common underlying pathological features such as increased neuroinflammation and excessive oxidative stress. RAGE, the receptor for advanced glycation end-products, is a signal transduction receptor, and its activation triggers an increase in proinflammatory molecules, oxidative stressors and cytokines. Diaph1, protein diaphanous homolog 1 is an actin modulator and an intracellular ligand of RAGE. Studies demonstrated that RAGE and Diaph1 act together and their downstream signaling pathways play a role in neurodegeneration. Here, based on current evidence and our own research, we provide an overview of the RAGE-Diaph1 signaling and discuss the therapeutic potential of targeted therapy aimed at RAGE-Diaph1 signaling inhibition in prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.