Therapeutic potential of carnosine and its derivatives in the treatment of human diseases.

Despite significant progress in the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer and neu-rodegenerative diseases, their occurence and mortality is still high around the world. The resistance of cancer cells to the drugs remains a significant problem in oncology today, while in the case of neuro-degenerative diseases, therapies reversing the process are still yet to be found. Furthermore, it is im-portant to seek new chemotherapeutics reversing side effects of currently used drugs or helping them perform their function in order to inhibit progression of the disease. Carnosine, dipeptide constisting of β-alanine and L-histidine has a variety of functions, to mention anti-oxidant, anti-glycation and reducing the toxicity of metal ions. It has therefore been proposed to act as a therapeutic agent for many patho-logical states. The aim of this paper was to find if carnosine and its derivatives can be helpful in treating various diseases. Literature search presented in this review includes review and original papers found in SciFinder, PubMed and Google Scholar. Searches were based on substantial keywords concerning ther-apeutical usage of carnosine and its derivatives in several diseases, including neurodegenerative disor-ders and cancer. In this paper, we review articles finding carnosine and its derivatives are potential ther-apeutic agents in many diseases, to mention cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, schizophrenia. Carnosine and its derivatives can be used in treating neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes or schizophrenia, although their usage is limited. Therefore, there's an urge to synthesize and analyse new substances, overcoming the limitation of carnosine itself.