Parkinson's Disease

New data reporting the long-term effects of deep brain stimulation on early-stage Parkinson’s patients has found the treatment significantly slows the progression of the disease. A large Phase 3 trial is now underway to verify these findings.

Scientists are already struggling to make headway in the fight against dementia, and the discovery of a new more aggressive form of neurodegeneration that's often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease further complicates the problem.

Scientists have demonstrated an exciting proof of concept for treating Parkinson's in mice, whereby inhibiting a single gene is a one-time treatment eradicated the disease entirely, and kept it at bay for the remainder of their lives.

A new study has strengthened ties between Parkinson's disease and the gut, identifying a type of overabundant pathogen in Parkinson’s disease patients that opens up new lines of enquiry in understanding the root causes of the condition.

Encouraging results from a small Phase 2 human trial testing the effects of a cancer drug in treating Alzheimer’s disease suggest the drug is safe, well-tolerated and alters biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s. A larger study is currently planned.

Scientists at Harvard University and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University have uncovered a pair of molecules with the ability to boost dopamine production in mice with Parkinson’s disease, greatly improving their motor function as a result.

Scientists have thrown further weight behind the theory that Parkinson's could originate in the gut, with an investigation of the digestive system revealing possible tell-tale signs at the earliest stages of the disease.

In 2017, scientists found the first direct evidence that autoimmunity may play a role in the onset of Parkinson’s disease, and have now uncovered further evidence of how the immune system contributes to the development of the disease.

A new study exploring the potential of an experimental drug to reduce involuntary movement in Parkinson's sufferers has returned some promising results, with monkeys undergoing treatment exhibiting much improved symptoms thereafter.

Researchers in Japan have turned their eye to pingpong's potential to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease, with a six-month preliminary study pointing to significant improvements in the participant's ability to carry out a variety of everyday tasks.

A paper is adding weight to the growing hypothesis suggesting the toxic protein clusters that cause Parkinson’s disease first aggregate in the gut before moving to the brain, and deficiency in a certain enzyme may help this mechanism.

Much research into treatments for Parkinson's concentrates on developing therapies that can arrest a slide in dopamine production, and scientists have now uncovered a new path forward in the form of a molecule found to boosts its levels in mice.