The Potential Role of Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Inhibitors as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Pharmacological Therapy

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons. Lately, this disease has often been related to the protein kinase called glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3), through the experimental evidence of alterations of this enzyme on ALS patients. Therefore, there have been several experimental studies using GSK-3 inhibitors, in cellular and animal models and also in clinical studies that showed the potential of the therapeutic role of these molecules. GSK-3 inhibitors might play a pivotal role in the pharmacology of ALS disease with no curative treatment nowadays. In this review we give an overview of the current research in the area, showing all the evidences of the implication of dysfunctional GSK-3 in this disease on one hand, and on the other presenting the potential role of the GSK-3 inhibitors as a future pharmacological ALS therapy. Keywords: GSK-3 inhibitors, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), neurodegenerative diseases, motor neurons, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Inhibitors, pharmacological ALS therapy, neurodegeneration, ALS Drugs, GSK-3b