A look into parkinson’s disease and the implications of gene therapy as a novel clinical approach

Abstract

"Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is considered as one of the highest occurring neurodegenerative disorders. Motor complexities are the major symptoms of this disease which mainly includes bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. Moreover, the non-motor symptoms can be included as mental and psychological complexities. Injury to the dopamine pathways is considered as the primary pathological reason of PD. Although the older population represents the majority of the patients, 5- 10% of the patients are relatively younger. Currently, dopamine replacement therapy with levodopa is the most common mode of treatment for alleviating the symptoms and retaining the functional capabilities. Here, gene therapy can be a viable treatment approach for such neurodegenerative disorders since it serves by knocking down the pathological genes. Even though few questions are yet to be answered before incorporating gene therapy in Parkinson’s disease, this novel therapeutic method has the potential to reshape the future of neurologic therapeutics."