Figure 1. Model depicting the potential mechanisms influenced by compounds with anti-aggregation properties in C. elegans.

These compounds may act as a stress response mimetic that induces some components of the protein homeostasis network. This induction may involve the participation of diverse transcription factors (TF’s), including HSF-1, SKN-1 and DAF-16, that could both activate the protein homeostasis response or favor the expression of anti-aging or stress responsive genes. Alternatively, they may act directly on the misfolded cascade to affect the spatial and temporal distribution as well as the size of protein aggregates. All the potential actions of these compounds are marked with red arrows. Symbols representing autophagy, proteasomal functions and heat shock proteins (HSP’s) exemplify the requirement of protein homeostasis for suppression of protein aggregation by some compounds. Dashed red arrows represent potential indirect actions of these compounds.