In Parkinson’s disease, DNA that leaks out of mitochondria — small organelles that generate energy — leads to cell death and inflammation, according to a new study. The finding indicates that getting rid of this mitochondrial DNA could be a promising therapeutic strategy. The study, “Cytosolic dsDNA of…
The asymmetric loss of dopamine-producing, or dopaminergic, neurons in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease may determine the severity of patients’ motor and cognitive symptoms, a study suggests. Such differences in the loss of these dopaminergic neurons — a characteristic feature of Parkinson’s — may explain the contrast…
Two years of continuous treatment with apomorphine as an under-the-skin infusion safely preserved quality of life and effectively eased motor fluctuations in people with advanced Parkinson’s disease, according to a single-center, real-life study in France. Notably, patients with poor life quality before starting with continuous apomorphine were more likely to improve in…
Gut inflammation could play a critical role in the onset and progression of Parkinson’s disease, a preclinical study shows. Specifically, this type of inflammation triggered the accumulation of alpha-synuclein protein clumps in the nerves lining the colon of a mouse model of…
Caraway Therapeutics is partnering with AbbVie to develop and market Caraway’s small molecule therapies targeting TMEM175, a potassium ion channel implicated in Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. TMEM175 is present in lysosomes — tiny compartments in cells containing enzymes that break down unwanted cell parts, digesting and…
One month of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS), administered at home using a hand-held device by electroCore, improved walking and motor abilities, and eased freezing of gait in adults with Parkinson’s disease, according to data from a small clinical trial. Freezing of gait refers to a patient’s feeling for…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected an application from Verily Life Sciences that sought to add a Parkinson’s disease symptom assessment tool to the company’s clinical research-focused smartwatch. In its response letter, the FDA said there was not enough evidence that the criteria evaluated…
Oral doses of silibinin — a plant compound sold as a dietary supplement — were found to lessen cognitive impairment in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. It worked, according to researchers, by preventing neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, a brain region associated with cognitive function. These neuroprotective effects…
The first patient has been dosed in a still-recruiting Phase 1 clinical trial testing DA01, an investigational cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease. A separate Phase 1 trial of a potential gene therapy for Parkinson’s is also recruiting eligible patients in the U.S., according to a press release from…
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and 23andMe are opening “robust” genetic data to researchers worldwide that could help in identifying markers of treatment response and disease progression, and ultimately may lead to better therapies for Parkinson’s disease. These new and de-identified (for privacy)…
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