title: miRNAs as novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for Parkinson's disease: a patent evaluation of WO2014018650.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parkinson's disease (PD) requires novel means for early-stage recognition, enabling early therapeutic approaches. Since microRNAs (miRNAs) are important components of the gene regulatory networks in neurodegenerative diseases, there is huge effort to find correlation between expression patterns of miRNAs and disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current application claims the use of miRNA signatures to diagnose and treat PD also in early nonsymptomatic stages. Therefore, samples from putamen and CSF were collected to identify miRNA signatures in PD. Resulting microarrays provide expression patterns of miRNAs that were highly predictive for different stages of PD pathology. Different kits are provided to determine miRNA signatures and to classify the individual stage of disease. Furthermore, an oligonucleotide is suggested, with the aim to downregulate an miRNA, predicted to play a causal role in the development of PD pathology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The asymptomatic early phase in PD is associated with specific changes in miRNA expression patterns. However, further work is required to assess the real diagnostic and therapeutic potential of this application's findings. Targeting individual miRNAs is a strategy worth to be investigated, but many technical issues still need to be addressed.
authors.affiliation: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Chemistry , Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin , Germany christoph.arenz@chemie.hu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Marlen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hesse
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arenz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010330:Patents as Topic
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Parkinson’s disease; association study; circulating RNA; expression profile; microRNA; neurodegenerative disorders