TOP ＞ 会長招聘講演

会長招聘講演 1L2 Therapeutic strategy for brain disorders as systemic diseases Wada Keiji National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry In this talk, changes of conceptual framework of neurodegenerative disorders are reviewed and new therapeutic strategies are discussed for the disorders. Historically, neural cell death was the hallmark for diagnosing neurodegenerative disorders. Besides the cell death, in recent years, neuronal cell dysfunction has received more attention in pathophysiological aspects of the disorders. Studies of glial cells raised importance of their contribution in neural information processes, and a tripartite synapse hypothesis became a hot topic in neuroscience. More recently, prionoid-spreading hypothesis of disease-causing molecules attracted a great deal of attention, which has led, for example, to a wave of exsosome analyses of fluid samples from patients. On the other hand, involvements of the immune system and metabolism in the onset of neurodegenerative disorders were studied even before the modern molecular biology was introduced in science. Clinically, in addition to core symptoms, associated symptoms（for example, behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia）are cues for clinical treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease could be detected outside the brain, for example, using the cardiac scintigraphy method. Based on these trends, it is quite reasonable the idea of systemic disorders occurring in neurodegenerative disorders. Accordingly, brain-other organ-networks become important when considering the targets for clinical intervention of the disorders. Thus, therapeutic strategies must be reconsidered in the aspect that neurodegenerative disorders are the systemic diseases. Genetic factors as well as environmental factors must be studied in the new concept of neurodegenerative disorders.