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…
GT-02287, Gain Therapeutics’ experimental oral therapy, reduced the toxic alpha-synuclein protein clumps that characterize Parkinson’s disease in lab-grown nerve cells derived from patients with disease-causing mutations in the GBA1 gene, the company announced. The treatment also boosted the function of lysosomes, the cells’ recycling centers, which is…
Researchers have developed a test that may help to more accurately diagnose Parkinson’s disease and monitor its progression. It combines two already-used laboratory techniques to measure clumps of alpha-synuclein in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Alpha-synuclein is the protein that progressively builds to toxic levels in the brain and…
The hormone irisin prevents the buildup of toxic alpha-synuclein protein, leading to the preservation of nerve cells and easing motor symptoms in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease, a study has found. Experiments showed the hormone had an ability to facilitate the breakdown of toxic alpha-synuclein through lysosomes, the…
Exercise can modify the connectivity of the brain’s pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) with other areas of the brain in people with Parkinson’s disease and gait impairments, a study has found. Decreases in connectivity of the PPN on the left side of the brain after exercise were associated with motor improvements…
Enrollment is now complete for a Phase 2 trial of NYX-458, Aptinyx’s investigational therapy to treat cognitive impairment in people with Parkinson’s disease. After a pause in enrollment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trial resumed enrolling in April 2021. Now, a total of 99 adults, ages…
Patients with early-onset or familial forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) had a higher burden of rare mutations in the PPARGC1AÂ gene compared with healthy people, whereas no significant relationship was observed between these mutations and late-onset sporadic Parkinson’s, a study found. While the findings suggest that PPARGC1AÂ could contribute to the…
Sleep disturbances are common in people with diseases marked by alpha-synuclein buildup, but they are especially problematic among Parkinson’s disease patients on dopaminergic medications, a study suggests. Parkinson’s patients tend to have more arousals during sleep and fewer normal sleep cycles than people with isolated rapid eye movement (REM)…
At least six months of physical therapy helps to ease motor symptoms, possibly allowing for lower medication doses among people with mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s disease, according to findings from a recent meta-analysis of published clinical trial data. Beneficial changes in Parkinson’s motor symptoms were observed regardless of whether patients…
Fluctuations in weight, either a loss or a gain, occurred significantly more often in people with Parkinson’s disease than in those without the progressive neurodegenerative disorder, a study has found. Weight loss in Parkinson’s patients was associated with a faster progression of motor and cognitive declines over a five-year…
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