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Emerging Treatment Approaches for Parkinson's Disease.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Stoker, Thomas B 
Torsney, Kelli M 
Barker, Roger A 

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, manifesting as a characteristic movement disorder with a number of additional non-motor features. The pathological hallmark of PD is the presence of intra-neuronal aggregates of α-synuclein (Lewy bodies). The movement disorder of PD occurs largely due to loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, resulting in striatal dopamine depletion. There are currently no proven disease modifying treatments for PD, with management options consisting mainly of dopaminergic drugs, and in a limited number of patients, deep brain stimulation. Long-term use of established dopaminergic therapies for PD results in significant adverse effects, and there is therefore a requirement to develop better means of restoring striatal dopamine, as well as treatments that are able to slow progression of the disease. A number of exciting treatments have yielded promising results in pre-clinical and early clinical trials, and it now seems likely that the landscape for the management of PD will change dramatically in the short to medium term future. Here, we discuss the promising regenerative cell-based and gene therapies, designed to treat the dopaminergic aspects of PD whilst limiting adverse effects, as well as novel approaches to reducing α-synuclein pathology.

Description

Keywords

Parkinson’s disease, novel therapies, regenerative therapies, stem cells, α-synuclein

Journal Title

Front Neurosci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1662-4548
1662-453X

Volume Title

12

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_12009)
The authors acknowledge financial support from the following organisations: Wellcome Trust Stem Cell Institute (Cambridge), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre and the Cure Parkinson’s Trust.