LRRK2 and Other Novel Exosome Proteins in Parkinson's Disease (U18)
Summary
The cause of Parkinson's disease in most people is not known. Sometimes Parkinson's disease can be passed on from one family generation to the next, and scientists have recently identified the reasons for Parkinson's disease in some of these families. It turns out that there are rare differences in particular proteins in families that inherit Parkinson's disease from one generation to the next. One of these proteins is called LRRK2 (pronounced "Lark too"). LRRK2 may help scientists find out what is going on in Parkinson's disease by providing critical information about the disease process in regards to small changes in the LRRK2 protein. This critical information may be used to develop therapies that cure the disease, but may also be instrumental in identifying the people who are at risk for getting Parkinson's disease in the future. Dr. West and his team have recently found that LRRK2, and other proteins thought to be important in Parkinson's disease, are detectable in some components of normal urine, a biofluid that everybody gets rid of on a daily basis. Using newly developed technology that allows the West laboratory to measure these proteins, they will determine whether these proteins in urine are different in people with Parkinson's disease versus people without Parkinson's disease. They will also see if these proteins are lower in other people (people with Cancer, not Parkinson's) who are being treated with a particular medication (a Cancer treatment) which is thought to impact the activity of LRRK2. This will be helpful in determining if those urinary components could be used to help find cures for Parkinson's disease in treatment trials that are designed to destroy the activity of LRRK2. Finally, if LRRK2 is not the answer, the team is also measuring nearly one-thousand other proteins in PD patients and healthy control subjects to see if there are other differences between people with and without PD.