A Copper-Binding Peptide with Therapeutic Potential against Alzheimer's Disease: From the Blood-Brain Barrier to Metal Competition.

ABSTRACT: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia worldwide. AD brains are characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) that bind Cu²⁺ and have been associated with several neurotoxic mechanisms. Although the use of copper chelators to prevent the formation of Cu²⁺-Aβ complexes has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy, recent studies show that copper is an important neuromodulator that is essential for a neuroprotective mechanism mediated by Cu²⁺ binding to the cellular prion protein (PrP^C). Therefore, in addition to metal selectivity and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, an emerging challenge for copper chelators is to prevent the formation of neurotoxic Cu²⁺-Aβ species without perturbing the neurop

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Guerrero VE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11741003 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature