Association of skin with the pathogenesis and treatment of neurodegenerative amyloidosis

Abstract

Amyloidosis are a large group of conformational diseases characterized by abnormal pro-tein folding and assembly which results in the accumulation of insoluble protein aggregates that may accumulate systemically or locally in certain organs or tissue. In local amyloido-sis, amyloid deposits are restricted to a particular organ or tissue. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are some examples of neurodegenerative amy-loidosis. Local manifestation of protein aggregation in the skin has also been reported. Brain and skin are highly connected at a physiological and pathological level. Recently sev-eral studies demonstrated a strong connection between brain and skin in different amyloid diseases. In the present review, we discuss the relevance of the " brain-skin connection" in different neurodegenerative amyloidosis, not only at the pathological level, but also as a strategy for the treatment of these diseases. © 2012 Clos, Kayed and Lasagna-Reeves.