Margarida Maia, PhD,  science writer—

Mutations in the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase) prevent it from entering the lysosome — a cell’s recycling center — where it clears away unwanted materials such as alpha-synuclein toxic clumps that cause Parkinson’s disease and ultimately kill nerve cells, a recent study found. These encouraging findings may help to validate efforts to…

IMAC Holdings has completed dosing the second group of patients in its Phase 1 clinical trial testing umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for the treatment of bradykinesia due to Parkinson’s disease. About a year ago, a first group of five patients received a low dose of the…

Women with Parkinson’s disease in China appear to have a poorer quality of life than do men, a study of patients at a Beijing rehabilitation center reported. Researchers observed that women experienced more physical discomfort, were more likely to perceive stigma, and expressed fewer positive emotions. When caring for…

Loss of a protein called DJ-1, which is linked to the development of early-onset Parkinson’s disease, may also mean a longer-lasting immune response, according to a new study. Researchers observed that immunoaging — a decline in immune function with aging — was slowed in a man with Parkinson’s who…

Winners of the 2022 edition of the $3 million Cure One, Cure Many Award for the early diagnosis of Lewy body dementia (LBD) have been announced by its promoter, the American Brain Foundation. They are the Mayo Clinic’s Owen A. Ross, PhD, Pamela J. McLean, PhD, and…

A short course of ENT-01, Enterin’s investigational therapy for Parkinson’s disease, appears to restore the function of nerve cells found in the gut to ease constipation. These findings come from KARMET, a Phase 2b clinical trial (NCT03781791) that evaluated ENT-01’s safety when taken once daily for at…

Caraway Therapeutics was awarded a new research grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to further work on therapies that increase flux, or movement, into the lysosome, a tiny cell compartment that helps clear away the alpha-synuclein toxic clumps that are known to cause Parkinson’s disease. This…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given positive feedback to Annovis Bio’s plans to start two Phase 3 clinical trials of buntanetap (ANVS401) as an oral therapy for early- and late-stage Parkinson’s disease. The feedback followed a review of data from a Phase 2 clinical trial showing significant…

A first patient in Canada has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial of DA01, a cell-based investigational therapy for advanced Parkinson’s disease by BlueRock Therapeutics. The therapy consists of surgically injecting neurons (nerve cells) that make dopamine — and which are damaged and die with Parkinson’s — into…

A team of scientists at the University of Cincinnati, in Ohio, has received a grant worth $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to study how stress can affect — and worsen the progression of — Parkinson’s disease. The researchers, led by Kim Seroogy, PhD, previously showed…