Editorial Neurodegeneration: Etiologies and New Therapies

Copyright © 2015 E. K. Tan et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Neurodegeneration refers to the progressive loss of struc-ture or function of neurons and it can lead to devastating neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Neurodegeneration is frequently multifactorial in origin though aging and genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a significant role. The relative contribution of genes and environmental factors has been debated. For AD and PD, both familial (monogenic and complex inheritance) and sporadic forms exist while some like HD are purely genetic in nature. The key pathological hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases include oxidative stress, proteasomal impairment