Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative
disorder that causes the progressive loss of motoneurons, and
unfortunately, there is no effective treatment to stop the disease.
Multiple pathological mechanisms are interconnected in the
neuropathology of this disorder, including abnormal aggregation of
proteins, neuroinflammation and dysregulation of the ubiquitin
proteasome system. Such complex mechanisms, together with the lack of
reliable animal models of the disease, have hampered drug discovery in
the last decades. Protein kinases, key pharmacological targets in
several diseases, have been linked to ALS, as they play a central role
in numerous of these pathological mechanisms. Therefore, several
inhibitors are currently in their way to achieve a clinical proof of
concept in ALS patients. In this review we recapitulate the protein
kinase inhibitors currently in development for this disease together
with their molecular targets and their involvement in the pathobiology
of ALS.