Commonalities in the genetics of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are neurodegenerative diseases that have a tremendous impact on the lives of affected individuals. There is a great probability of developing concurrent parkinsonism in AD and vice versa than would be predicted by independent prevalence of each disease. Both diseases have genetic familial forms with a prevalence of less than 5-10%, but the majority of the cases are sporadic. Several hypotheses exist regarding the etiology of these diseases, such as oxidative stress, inflammatory processes, ubiquitin-proteasome system dysfunction, energy deficits, cell cycle deficiencies and glutamate exitotoxicities. Since diagnosis occurs in late-stage disease after neuronal loss, it decreases the opportunity for neuroprotective/neurorestorative therapies. Therefore, early and specific diagnosis is required as well as new therapy approaches for the growing burden of AD and PD.
Grünblatt
Edna
E
University of Würzburg, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Neurochemistry Laboratory, Füchsleinstr. 15, D-97080 Würzburg, Germany. gruenblatt_e@klinik.uni-wuerzburg.de
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors