Understanding the biological relationships between neurodegenerative conditions is paving the way toward clearer diagnosis and personalized treatment approaches.
8 Fox Focus | Research
Scientific Advances Unlock Clues Linking Parkinson’ s and Alzheimer’ s Disease
Understanding the biological relationships between neurodegenerative conditions is paving the way toward clearer diagnosis and personalized treatment approaches.
By Joe Nocera
MORE THAN 200 YEARS AGO, Dr. James Parkinson linked tremors and other symptoms to a disease he called“ shaking palsy.” Diagnosis of what became known as Parkinson’ s disease was based on its characteristic tremors and other motor symptoms— the outward symptoms that doctors could see.
Over the years, it became clear that Parkinson’ s was about more than just tremors. Some people develop tremors; others experience slowness and rigidity. Some people’ s symptoms progress slowly; others quickly. Age of onset can vary. Thinking and memory challenges— more commonly associated with Alzheimer’ s disease— affect some people with PD but not all. And so on.
As research progressed into diseases that share some similar symptoms, including Lewy body dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis( ALS), Alzheimer’ s and Parkinson’ s, researchers suspected these diseases were more biologically similar than previously understood.
Their suspicion was backed up by autopsy findings. The brain of a person who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’ s would have Alzheimer’ s telltale amyloid plaques mingled with alpha-synuclein, the protein that clumps in the brains of people with Parkinson’ s.