Gene expression profiling and therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative diseases: a comprehensive study on potentiality and limits

Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable debilitating disorders of the nervous system that affect approximately 30 million people worldwide. Despite profuse efforts attempting to define the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, many aspects of these pathologies remain elusive. The novelty of their mechanisms represents a challenge to biology, to their related biomarkers identification and drug discovery. Because of their multifactorial aspects and complexity, gene expression analysis plat- forms have been extensively used to investigate altered pathways during degeneration and to identify potential biomarkers and drug targets.