Journal of drug targeting
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Journal of drug targeting · Jun 2014
ReviewPirB is a novel potential therapeutic target for enhancing axonal regeneration and synaptic plasticity following CNS injury in mammals.
A major barrier to axonal regeneration in mammals is the unfavorable extracellular environment that develops following injury to the central nervous system (CNS). In particular, three myelin-associated inhibitory proteins (MAIs) - Nogo, myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) and oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein (OMgp) - are known to inhibit axonal regeneration and functional recovery. ⋯ Importantly, suppression of PirB activity through antibody antagonism or genetic means can partially relieve the inhibition of neurite outgrowth in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we present the molecular features, expression patterns and known signaling pathways of PirB, and we specifically focus on putative roles for PirB in the CNS and its potential as a target of molecular therapies for enhancing axonal regeneration and synaptic plasticity following CNS injury.