In a new study entitled “VPS35 in Dopamine Neurons Is Required for Endosome-to-Golgi Retrieval of Lamp2a, a Receptor of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy That Is Critical for α-Synuclein Degradation and Prevention of Pathogenesis of Parkinson’s Disease” scientists discovered that loss of the VPS35 protein expression in Parkinson’s disease interferes…

Four years ago, in 2011, science journalist Jon Palfreman went to see his physician about the tremors he had been experiencing in his left hand. It was then, at 60 years of age, that Jon found out he already had Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that causes a gradual loss…

New encouraging data on novel therapeutic drugs targeting components affected in several brain diseases linked to dementia have been recently presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2015 (AAIC 2015) in Washington, D.C. The brain diseases considered included Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body dementia. All three conditions…

Progressive loss of neurons in the brains of Parkinson’s patients is a slow yet inexorable process, and so far, there are no drugs that can halt this insidious process. However, teams of researchers at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have now…

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in Pennsylvania recently revealed that a gene therapy strategy targeting a key protein in Parkinson’s disease pathology – alpha-synuclein – can prevent disease development in a rat model. The study is entitled “…

ProMIS Neurosciences announced arriving at a lead candidate vaccine against the misfolded alpha-synuclein protein, which the company plans to develop as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. The potential vaccine, known as PMN400, is moving into preclinical testing in animal models of Parkinson’s. “We are…

UB-312, an experimental vaccine being developed for Parkinson’s disease by Vaxxinity, induced the production of antibodies targeting alpha-synuclein and slowed protein clumping in patients’ cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the fluid that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. The vaccine is designed to stimulate a patient’s immune system…

Aptinyx’s investigational therapy NYX-458 failed to be superior to a placebo at improving cognitive function in people with dementia due to Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia in a Phase 2 clinical trial. These findings prompted the company to stop development work on NYX-458. “We are very disappointed…

A first patient with Parkinson’s disease has been dosed with UB-312, Vaxxinity’s experimental vaccine therapy targeting alpha-synuclein, after treatment safety and tolerability was seen in healthy volunteers in a clinical trial. This marks the beginning of Part B in the Phase 1 trial (NCT04075318), which is enrolling up…

I never realized the benefits of music until I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Early in my diagnosis, I met Alexander Pantelyat, MD, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine, who introduced me to both music and dance. Together with boxing and other exercises,…