An updated research of glycogen synthase kinase-3β inhibitors: a review

Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) is a highly conserved multifunctional serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) protein kinase widely expressed in many tissues. GSK-3β inhibitors could be used in the treatment of human key diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, inflammation, type-II diabetes, and so on, due to the multi-role of GSK-3β in the hepatic glycolysis regulation, cell signaling pathways, and phosphorylation of various proteins. Recently, sets of diverse GSK-3β inhibitors have been prepared, and biologically evaluated in vitro and in vivo in different screening models. This review summarizes the latest developments in GSK-3β inhibitors unclosed from 2015 to 2019, including their structure–activity relationship and bioactivity studies. Graphic abstract