A family of proteins called Piwis and the tiny regulatory RNA molecules they interact with — Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) — are critical for the formation of new neurons in the adult brain, according to recent research in mice. Data showed that depletion of a specific Piwi protein, called Mili, in…
SLS-004, Seelos Therapeutics‘ investigational gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease, lowered alpha-synuclein levels and prevented the degeneration of dopamine-producing, or dopaminergic, neurons in a mouse model of the disease, the company announced. A hallmark of the neurodegenerative disease, the loss of dopaminergic neurons in a brain region called the…
Multiple doses of AL101, Alector’s investigational treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, safely increased progranulin levels in healthy volunteers, according to data from a Phase 1 clinical trial. Low levels of progranulin, a protein critical for immune activity and cell survival in the nervous system, have been…
Dry eye disease (DED) is common in people with Parkinson’s disease, with more than 60% of patients reporting that they experience its symptoms, according to a recent meta-analysis. Clinical signs of this disease, which include a lower rate of blinking, reduced corneal thickness, a lesser tear secretion, and a…
Treatment with simvastatin, a medication used to lower cholesterol levels, did not slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease  over a two-year period, according to published data from a Phase 2 trial. Overall, the data provide “no evidence to support proceeding to a phase 3 trial,” the researchers wrote, noting…
XPhyto Therapeutics’ generic version of the Neupro patch for Parkinson’s disease is showing that its active ingredient, rotigotine, can be absorbed through the skin in ways similar to the brand-name product, the company announced. Findings, in work using skin from human cadavers and an optimized formula for the generic patch, support…
REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and autonomic dysfunction (dysautonomia), two types of nonmotor Parkinson’s disease symptoms, were significant predictors of anxiety in Parkinson’s patients over a three-year study. More than half (57%) of patients in in the study met the clinical criteria for anxiety at some point, underscoring its…
Four weeks of physical therapy — specifically, the Lee Silverman Voice Therapy (LSVT)-BIG program — given via telemedicine led to improvements in life quality and symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients similar to those observed with in-person use of LSVT-BIG, according to a small study. Larger studies of the virtual exercise…
People with persistent smell deficits are more likely to develop brain imaging abnormalities suggestive of Parkinson’s disease, or be diagnosed with the disease, than those whose deficits return to normal on a subsequent smell test, according to data from a Phase 2 study. Deficits in two consecutive smell tests,…
Scientists have shed new light on the interaction of toxic apha-synuclein clumps — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — with microglia, the brain’s immune cells. This interaction was found to be mediated by RAGE, a protein at the surface of microglia, which promoted the release of inflammatory molecules from…
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