News

Reduced protein synthesis could serve as a biomarker to help diagnose Parkinson’s disease, even before motor symptoms appear, a recent study suggests. The study, “Protein synthesis is suppressed in sporadic and familial Parkinson’s disease by LRRK2,” was published in The FASEB Journal. The LRRK2 protein (leucine-rich repeat…

Fatigue increases over time in people with Parkinson’s disease and is associated with several factors, including sex, age, depression symptoms, and higher cognitive function, a study has found. The results of the longitudinal study, “Progression of fatigue in Parkinson’s disease – A nine-year follow-up,” were published…

Cognitive changes in people with Parkinson’s disease pose a substantial challenge for their care partners, new research suggests. The findings were presented at the 2020 Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic) by researchers from the Parkinson’s Foundation, in…

A new webinar titled “Is Parkinson’s Inherited?” — led by a research vice president at the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) — focused on the genetics and heritability of Parkinson’s disease and spoke to the need for greater diversity in clinical trials. The MJFF’s latest Third Thursday Webinar,…

The United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) are collaborating to support eight new regenerative medicine projects seeking to develop therapies for disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). The landmark £7 million (about $9 million)…

The Parkinson’s Foundation is launching a large paper-based survey to identify gaps in existing research in traditionally underserved people with Parkinson’s disease by gathering patient-reported information about treatment and care, access, unmet needs, and outcomes. The survey was developed by the foundation, together with researchers at the…

The first participants have been dosed in the initial part of a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the investigational compound CST-2032 as a treatment for neurodegenerative disease, according to the therapy’s developers, CuraSen Therapeutics. The trial will enroll up to 70 healthy volunteers and patients with a variety…

Nearly a quarter of patients with Parkinson’s disease polled in a U.S. national survey reported using cannabis mainly to try and ease their symptoms, despite a lack of evidence on both its effectiveness and safety. Although still federally illegal, marijuana has been legalized for either recreational or medicinal…

One-time treatment with investigational gene therapy VY-AADC (NBIb-1817) showed sustained improvement in motor function in patients with Parkinson’s, results from the Phase 1 PD-1102 clinical trial show. These results were presented recently in two poster presentations at the MDS Virtual Congress 2020. VY-AADC, a gene therapy being…

Lower-than-usual levels of the protein SIRT1 are evident in the blood of people with Parkinson’s disease, and correlate with greater disease severity and cognitive impairment, a study reported. A blood test of SIRT1 levels, for this reason, may serve as a biomarker…