Natural Products from Chinese Medicine Targeting NF-κB Signaling: Emerging Therapeutic Avenues for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abstract

This review summarizes recent advances in leveraging natural products from Chinese medicine to modulate the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), focusing specifically on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). NF-κB proteins regulate cellular biological activity by binding to promoter regions in the nucleus and transcribing various protein-coding genes. Emerging evidence indicates that NF-κB plays a pivotal role in driving key hallmarks of NDD progression, including neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and dysregulation of the cell cycle. Natural products from Chinese medicine exert modulatory effects on NF-κB signaling through diverse pharmacological mechanisms, ultimately improving cognitive and motor impairments in preclinical NDDs models. The pleiotropic nature of natural products derived from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)—which operate through subunit-specific modulation of NF-κB—underscores their potential as next-generation therapeutics. Investigating the intricate regulation of NF-κB by natural products from Chinese medicine will not only enrich our understanding of the pathogenesis of NDDs but also establish a theoretical foundation for the development of new therapeutic drugs for NDDs, providing innovative strategies for prevention and treatment.