While the exact cause of Parkinson’s disease is currently unknown, scientists have come up with four possible theories according to the Mayo Clinic. 1. Genetics There are certain genes which, when they become mutated, cause Parkinson’s disease. However, these mutated genes are very rare, except in cases where Parkinson’s runs in the…
Search results for:
Parkinson’s disease may in part be driven by autoimmune processes, according to researchers who discovered that certain immune cells react to alpha-synuclein — a protein that accumulates in the brains of Parkinson’s patients. The findings, published in the journal Nature, raise the possibility that immunotherapy could be used to…
Social Clips
3 Causes of Psychosis in Parkinson’s Disease
Psychosis is the term used when patients experience hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations are more likely to occur in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease, but younger and newly diagnosed patients may also experience them. Delusions are less common and only affect around 8 percent of people living with the diseases. According…
New research shows that alpha-synuclein is expressed in the enteroendocrine cells (EECs) of the intestine, which are directly connected to nerves that contain α-synuclein, forming a neural circuit between the gut and the nervous system. In this manner, external toxins and other environmental influences could aid in the misfolding of…
Affitope PD03A is an investigational vaccine that targets alpha-synuclein, a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). It is the second alpha-synuclein targeting vaccine that Affiris is developing; the other is Affitope PD01A. How Affitope PD03A works Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) is a protein of unknown function in the brain that…
Parkinson’s disease psychosis, one of the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, results in patients experiencing hallucinations and/or delusions. Hallucinations mean that people see, hear or feel things that do not exist, and can happen at any time a person is awake, including daytime. Delusions are illogical or irrational views that are not based…
Social Clips
How Parkinson’s Disease Affects Your Body
In this video from Consumer Health Digest, Dr. Ron Desi talks about the basics of Parkinson’s disease and how the progressive neurodegenerative disease affects the body. MORE: How does Parkinson’s disease affect the brain? Dr. Desi explains that Parkinson’s disease usually develops in middle to late…
Researchers at two world-renowned institutions have presented a new theory of how Parkinson’s disease (PD) and its symptoms develop— challenging the dominant view that PD emerges as the protein alpha-synuclein spreads from neuron to neuron in an infection-like manner. In an opinion piece, “The Threshold Theory for Parkinson’s Disease,” the two…
Axovant Sciences has announced the preliminary results of a Phase 2 clinical trial testing the investigational oral drug therapy nelotanserin in patients with either dementia caused by Lewy bodies (DLB), or Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD). Nelotanserin is an investigational drug candidate that binds to a receptor of the central…
A treatment widely used to help prevent rejection in organ transplants, called tacrolimus, appears to work to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD) and ideally should be tested in early-stage patients, researchers report. Tacrolimus, marketed under brand names including Prograf, works to suppress the immune system. It is used at high dose with…