Can parkin be a target for future treatment of Parkinson's disease?
BACKGROUND
Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases affecting an increasing number of people worldwide with the ageing society. Although the etiology of PD remains largely unknown, it is now clear that genetic factors contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. Recently, several causative genes have been identified in mendelian forms of PD. Growing evidence indicates that their gene products play important roles in oxidative stress response, mitochondrial function, and the ubiquitin-proteasome system, which are also implicated in idiopathic PD, suggesting that these gene products share a common pathway to nigral degeneration in both familial and idiopathic PD. However, treatment options are currently limited.


METHODS
Recently, a possible role of parkin, a gene product of PARK2-liked PD, in neuroprotection has been suggested. To this regard, several investigations have focused on the possible contribution of parkin in neurotoxic insults. In this article, the role of parkin in the pathogenesis of PD and the potential of parkin as a therapeutic target in PD will be discussed.


CONCLUSIONS
There is an urgent need to develop novel therapeutic options to better manage patients with PD. The data discussed in this article provide rationale for parkin as a therapeutic target.
Juntendo University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology , 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8421 , Japan +81 3 5684 0476 ; +81 3 3813 7440 ; skubo@juntendo.ac.jp.
Shin-Ichiro
S
Kubo
Taku
T
Hatano
Masashi
M
Takanashi
Nobutaka
N
Hattori
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; C111567:parkin protein