A Study Into the Underlying Biochemical Pathways Involved in Parkinson's Disease, Such as Mitochondrial (Cellular "Powerhouse") Dysfunction

Summary

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that is increasingly common with age, with the incidence rising from approximately 4 people per 10,000 in their forties to 2 in 100 over the age of eighty.

Our understanding of the causes of PD has rapidly developed in the past two decades, but this has not yet translated into any clinically established neuroprotective treatment that slows disease progression. There is a growing consensus that the failure of previous efforts is mainly due to the causative diversity of PD i.e. that PD may have many different causes. For example, it is known that variants in mitochondrial (cellular power house) genes can cause specific forms of PD and this may be relevant to other forms of PD.

The aim of this study is to attempt to group PD patients based on markers of biochemical dysfunction (e.g. into groups of patients that do and those who do not have evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction) to aid in the development of new candidate neuro-protective compounds.

The investigators hope by grouping people with Parkinson's into those with and without impaired mitochondrial function the investigators will be better able to develop more targeted treatments aimed at protecting further loss of brain cells that occurs in Parkinson's disease.

To achieve this the investigators will study people, in two study sites in London, with both genetic forms of PD and those with idiopathic PD (i.e. those where there is not a known genetic variant causing PD), as well as a healthy control group. All groups will undergo standardised clinical assessment to collect information on several aspects of their condition (e.g. disease severity, memory problems and sleep problems).

Participants will be asked to provide blood, urine and optionally cerebrospinal fluid \& skin samples from which various biochemical assays and genetic analysis will be performed in attempt to group participants based on the results of these tests. The study is funded for 3 years with participants being asked to attend for up to 3 study visits each over this time period.

Conditions

• Parkinson Disease
• Parkinsonism

Sponsors & Collaborators

• European Commission

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Luxembourg

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Luebeck

  collaborator OTHER

• Leiden University Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• University College, London

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tony Schapira · UCL Institute of Neurology

• Huw Morris · UCL Institute of Neurology

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-08-18

Primary Completion

2020-04-01

Completion

2020-04-01

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations