Molecular chaperones. Biology and prospects for pharmacological intervention

In this review, we have presented an overview of protein misfolding as a basis for disease and have provided a prospective look at pharmacological approaches that may ultimately help to prevent or resolve protein-folding problems. Much of this article has focused on the molecular and chemical chaperons that assist in protein-folding processes and may be helpful in alleviating conditions that result from misfolding. A textbook-length treatise would be needed to fully cover these subjects, and we apologize for our oversights and biases in selecting the topics, examples, and citations that appear here. Currently, there are few pharmacological therapies that directly address protein misfolding and chaperone activity, so much of our outlook is necessarily speculative. Although some of our prognostications may prove to be inaccurate or unfeasible, perhaps for reasons we should have recognized, we would be surprised if chaperone-targeting drugs, including ones unforeseen by us, are not added to the clinical arsenal in the near future.