Cutting out a portion of or removing a gene linked to Parkinson’s disease protects against the formation of toxic protein clumps within brain cells, scientists have found. This discovery has the potential to significantly affect the development of next-generation cell-based therapies, which involve injecting healthy cells into brain regions…

A new roadmap for preclinical and clinical trials investigating compounds to treat and prevent Parkinson’s disease was proposed by a team of international academic and industry researchers, the Alpha-Synuclein Clinical Path Working Group, in conjunction with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Parkinson’s News Today provided you with daily coverage of important findings, treatment developments, and clinical trials related to Parkinson’s during 2018. We look forward to bringing more news to Parkinson’s patients, as well as their family members and caregivers, during 2019.

Blocking a key enzyme responsible for the production of a type of fat can become a potential therapeutic approach to treat Parkinson’s disease, Yumanity Therapeutics recently announced. The company revealed that inhibiting an enzyme…

Two compounds found in coffee — caffeine and EHT, a fatty acid molecule derived from serotonin — work together to protect the brain from damage induced by alpha-synuclein, a study in mice reported. The study, “Synergistic neuroprotection by coffee components eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide and caffeine in models of Parkinson’s disease and…

Impaired activity of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase), which is responsible for breaking down and recycling cell waste, boosts neurodegeneration and accumulation of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s, according to a new mouse study. The research, “Development and biochemical characterization of a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease bearing defective…

Inhibiting an enzyme that regulates the production of fatty acids may protect against brain toxicity induced by alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease and may become a therapeutic target for these patients, a study reports. The study, “Lipidomic Analysis of α-Synuclein Neurotoxicity Identifies Stearoyl CoA Desaturase as a Target…

Treatment with PF-360, an investigational leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) inhibitor, can efficiently decrease LRRK2’s phosphorylation levels, known to be elevated in Parkinson’s patients, in the brains of a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease, a preclinical study reports. However, despite some observed dose-dependent therapeutic effects, including gait improvement, no robust changes…

Inhibiting an enzyme called USP13 may represent an attractive therapeutic target for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, preclinical data suggests. These findings also could hold important implications for a therapy currently being developed to treat Parkinson’s disease — nilotinib. The study, “Ubiquitin specific protease-13 independently regulates parkin…

Severe motor, functional, and gait impairment; cumulative levodopa exposure; anxiety, and sex are among the risk factors for developing levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in people newly diagnosed  with Parkinson’s disease, according to results from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). The research, “Risk factors of…