Implications of GPCRs in Alzheimer’s

Abstract

G-protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs, are a large, diverse group of receptors found in all eukaryotes. GPCRs, as their name suggests, interact with G-proteins in the cell in order to carry out a variety of cellular responses. Most of these cellular responses are related to sensory functions such as pheromone signaling, taste, light perception, and other processes in the brain (Azam et al., 2020). For this reason, GPCRs are a very promising target for drugs that treat disorders affecting these processes. These disorders include many neurodegenerative CNS disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease. While many current drugs and therapies treat symptoms of these disorders, drugs that target GPCRs more directly would focus on the cause of the disorders at their roots (Huang et al., 2017). Insight into the mechanisms involved in signal transduction pathways in disorders such as those in Alzheimer’s would lead us to new discoveries that could alter the course of these and many other disorders of the CNS.