A new target for Parkinson’s therapy
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that begins its damaging course in the brain many years before the onset of symptoms such as tremors, muscle stiffness, and slow movements. By 2030 the number of individuals with Parkinson’s is estimated to double to 9.3 million as a result of aging populations, but medications to prevent or delay the disease are not available. In a new finding from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), researchers identify a link between Parkinson’s disease onset and dysfunctional activity of energy genes in the brain and identify a potential therapeutic target — the PGC-1alpha gene — to reverse this energy gene failure. This research is published in the Oct. 6 issue of Science Translational Medicine. “We found a clear-cut deficit in expression of genes that control the energy production in cell in patients with Parkinson’s,” said Clemens Scherzer, assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, principal...