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Parkinson's disease

Pro-survival effects of PINK1

Nature volume 448, pages 759–760 (2007)Cite this article

However parkinsonism is initiated, the progressive symptoms are similarly devastating. So insights from analyses of gene mutations linked to these disorders should aid a better general understanding of them.

The second most common neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson's disease, is caused by a loss of dopamine-secreting neurons from the mid-brain region; this leads to rigidity and tremor at rest and the characteristic slowness of movement. What triggers Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism (any of several nervous-system disorders that are similar to Parkinson's disease) remains elusive, but some forms of these disorders are heritable. In a paper in PLoS Biology, Pridgeon et al.1 attempt to elucidate the mechanism behind a familial form of Parkinson's disease that is associated with mutations in the PINK1 gene. Their findings point to an old culprit — the mitochondrion, the cell's energy-producing organelle — and a new offender, the molecular signalling pathway involved in inhibiting programmed cell death (apoptosis).

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Figure 1: Parkinsonism and signalling within mitochondria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pathology and Neurology, Asa Abeliovich is at the Taub Institute for the Aging Brain, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, New York 10032, USA. aa900@columbia.edu,

    Asa Abeliovich

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  1. Asa Abeliovich
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Abeliovich, A. Pro-survival effects of PINK1. Nature 448, 759–760 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/448759a

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