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Open AccessArtesunate treats obesity in male mice and non-human primates through GDF15/GFRAL signalling axis
Obesity, a global health challenge, is a major risk factor for multiple life-threatening diseases, including diabetes, fatty liver, and cancer. There is an ongoing need to identify safe and tolerable therapeut...
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Neurotrophic Factors in Parkinson’s Disease: Clinical Trials
Introduction: is characterized by the progressive loss of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons that regulate voluntary movement and cognitive functions. Despite notable progress in the development of symptomatic ther...
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Open AccessPsychedelics promote plasticity by directly binding to BDNF receptor TrkB
Psychedelics produce fast and persistent antidepressant effects and induce neuroplasticity resembling the effects of clinically approved antidepressants. We recently reported that pharmacologically diverse ant...
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The Unconventional Growth Factors Cerebral Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor and Mesencephalic Astrocyte–Derived Neurotrophic Factor Promote Post-ischemic Neurological Recovery, Perilesional Brain Remodeling, and Lesion-Remote Axonal Plasticity
Considerable efforts are currently made to develop strategies that boost endogenous recovery once a stroke has occurred. Owing to their restorative properties, neurotrophic factors are attractive candidates th...
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Open AccessAugmenting hematoma-scavenging capacity of innate immune cells by CDNF reduces brain injury and promotes functional recovery after intracerebral hemorrhage
During intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), hematoma formation at the site of blood vessel damage results in local mechanical injury. Subsequently, erythrocytes lyse to release hemoglobin and heme, which act as neu...
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Open AccessCerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor protects and repairs dopamine neurons by novel mechanism
Midbrain dopamine neurons deteriorate in Parkinson’s disease (PD) that is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder. No cure is available that would stop the dopaminergic decline or restore function of...
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Open AccessCDNF and MANF regulate ER stress in a tissue-specific manner
Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) and mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) display cytoprotective effects in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. These endoplasmic reti...
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Body weight regulation via MT1-MMP-mediated cleavage of GFRAL
GDNF-family receptor a-like (GFRAL) has been identified as the cognate receptor of growth/differentiation factor 15 (GDF15/MIC-1), considered a key signaling axis in energy homeostasis and body weight regulati...
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To celebrate the 80th birthday of Klaus Unsicker: discovery of a new growth factor and studies on the effects of growth factors on adrenal chromaffin cells and neurons
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Editorial for the special issue neurotrophic factors
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Open AccessNeurotrophic factors for disease-modifying treatments of Parkinson's disease: gaps between basic science and clinical studies
Neurotrophic factors are endogenous proteins promoting the survival of different neural cells. Therefore, they elicited great interest as a possible treatment for neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkins...
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Open AccessDeficiency of the ER-stress-regulator MANF triggers progressive outer hair cell death and hearing loss
The non-conventional neurotrophic factor mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident protein that promotes ER homeostasis. MANF has a cytoprotective fun...
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Open AccessMANF protects human pancreatic beta cells against stress-induced cell death
There is a great need to identify factors that could protect pancreatic beta cells against apoptosis or stimulate their replication and thus prevent or reverse the development of diabetes. One potential candid...
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Open AccessA deep convolutional neural network approach for astrocyte detection
Astrocytes are involved in various brain pathologies including trauma, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, or chronic pain. Determining cell density in a complex t...
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Open AccessMesencephalic Astrocyte-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (MANF) Elevates Stimulus-Evoked Release of Dopamine in Freely-Moving Rats
Neurotrophic factors (NTFs) hold potential as disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), cerebral dopamine neurot...
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Receptors identified for a weight regulator
The discovery of the receptors for the protein GDF15 suggests that it regulates food uptake through the emergency pathway — a neuronal circuit that causes weight loss in response to cancer, tissue damage and s...
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Open AccessIn vivo screening reveals interactions between Drosophila Manf and genes involved in the mitochondria and the ubiquinone synthesis pathway
Mesencephalic Astrocyte-derived Neurotrophic Factor (MANF) and Cerebral Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor (CDNF) form an evolutionarily conserved family of neurotrophic factors. Orthologues for MANF/CDNF are the on...
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Open AccessIncreased circulating concentrations of mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor in children with type 1 diabetes
Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) was recently shown to be essential for the survival and proliferation of pancreatic β-cells in mice, where deletion of MANF resulted in diabetes. The ...
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Parkinson’s disease: towards better preclinical models and personalized treatments
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Current disease modifying approaches to treat Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by the degeneration and death of midbrain dopamine and non-dopamine neurons in the brain leading to motor dysfunctions and other sym...
