Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Special article by the winner of Narabayashi Prize

The studies of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease

Hideki Mochizuki1)2)

1)Department of Neurology, Juntendo University
2)Research Institute for Disease of Old Age, Juntendo University

Various clinical trials of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) are finally underway. The vehicle used mainly for gene delivery to the human brain is recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vector, which is non-pathogenic and non-self-amplifying. At present, the gene therapy approach is not the best way for the treatment of PD patients, but we believe that the further progress is anticipated toward making this strategy a therapeutic option for PD in the future. This article will review currently ongoing clinical trials of PD gene therapy and then introduce our studies about the gene therapy for PD.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (887K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 49: 9|16, 2009)
key words: Parkinson's disease, gene therapy, adeno-associated virus vector, parkin

(Received: 8-Sep-08)