The importance of proteolytic systems in the diagnosis and prognosis of neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein degradation disorders (literature review)

Proteolytic systems play a key role in maintaining protein homeostasis and regulating biological processes that are important for human physiology and pathology. The article discusses the diagnostic and prognostic significance of proteolytic systems in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. Special attention is paid to two main systems of protein degradation and processing: ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosomal, with an emphasis on their interaction with cysteine, aspartate proteases and metalloproteinases. A number of proteases have been identified as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, including in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. The purpose of the article is to present the diagnostic and prognostic potential of measuring biomarkers of proteolytic systems in diseases associated with the pathological role of intracellular and tissue protein structures, with a special focus on proteins with disrupted conformation in neurodegenerative diseases. This article highlights the potential of proteolytic biomarkers as tools of modern precision medicine that combine molecular pathology assessment with clinical practice.