Emerging Opportunities in Peripheral Neuropathy
ENS Satellite Symposium, Nice, June 8, 1998
Guest Editors: V. Bril, Toronto, Ont.; G. Said, Paris

Paper

Neurotrophic Factors and Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
StuartC. Apfel

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., USA

Address of Corresponding Author

Eur Neurol 1999;41:27-34 (DOI: 10.1159/000052077)

  Key Words

• Nerve growth factors
• Disease models, animal
• Drug screening
• Diabetic neuropathy
• Peripheral nerve diseases
• Brain-derived neurotrophic factor
• Neurotrophin-3
• Insulin-like growth factor I
• Insulin-like growth factor II

  Abstract

Recent evidence from animal models of diabetes and human diabetic subjects suggests that the reduced availability of neurotrophic factors may contribute to the pathogenesis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Of these proteins, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin (NT-3) and NT-4/5 appear to be important for the development and maintenance of peripheral neurons, but others, including insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), may also be involved. Studies with NGF, NT-3, IGF-I and IGF-II both in vitro and in animal models of neuropathies (including DPN) suggest that these factors ameliorate nerve degeneration. Recombinant human NGF is the first neurotrophic factor to enter clinical trials for DPN and is currently being tested in two phase III studies.

  Author Contacts

Prof. S.C. Apfel
Kennedy Center Room 401, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461 (USA)
Tel. +1 718 430 3542, Fax +1 718 430 8992, E-Mail apfel@aecom.yu.edu

  Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 8
Number of Figures : 2, Number of Tables : 3, Number of References : 60