Heat Shock Protein 90 in Alzheimer’s Disease

Figure 1

Possible roles of Hsp90 in AD. The two hallmarks of the pathology of AD are the extracellular aggregated Aβ and the intracellular microtubule-associated protein tau. Hsp90 plays a key role in preventing protein misfolding and aggregation. Hsp90 can increase the clearance of Aβ peptides and facilitate Aβ degradation by the activation of TLR4 pathway, the formation of the complex of Hsp90 and HSP70/HSP40, and inducing the production of IL-6 and TNFα. In addition, Akt and CHIP coregulate tau degradation through coordinated interactions. Aberrant activation of kinases such as CDK5 and GSK3β can cause phosphorylation of tau. The possible roles of Hsp90 in AD pathogenesis may open a novel therapeutic target for AD.