A recent study led by researchers from the University of California - San Diego, has claimed that injury to axons can lead to severe neurodegenerative conditions and also suggested ways to protect it for encouraging neuron growth. A paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), has discovered the injury to that axons- the long, slender projections that conduct electrical impulses from one nerve cell to another, facilitating cellular communications often leads to many neurodegenerative conditions like glaucoma and Alzheimer. Researchers know that this injury could result in neuronal impairment and cell death. They have also discovered that inhibiting an enzyme called Dual Leucine zipper Kinase (DLK) appears to robustly protect neurons in a wide range of neurodegenerative disease models, and axonal regeneration. Until now, there have been no effective methods to modify genes to improve both the long-term survival of neurons and promote regeneration. A multi-university team led by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health identified another family of enzymes called germinal cell kinase four kinases (GCK-IV kinases) whose inhibition is robustly neuroprotective, while also permitting axon regeneration, making it an attractive therapeutic approach for treating at some neurodegenerative diseases.