Tiny But Mighty: Promising Roles of MicroRNAs in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
Ying Wang1,2 • Zhaofei Yang1,2 • Weidong Le1,2,3,*
1Center for Clinical Research on Neurological Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
2Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory for Research on the Pathogenic Mechanisms of Neurological Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
3Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, the First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. To date, the clinical diagnosis of PD is primarily based on the late onset of motor impairments. Unfortunately, at this stage, most of the dopaminergic neurons may have already been lost, leading to the limited clinical benefits of current therapeutics. Therefore, early identification of PD, especially at the prodromal stage, is still a main challenge in the diagnosis and management of this disease. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) in cerebrospinal fluid or peripheral blood have been proposed as putative biomarkers to assist in PD diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we systematically summarize the changes of miRNA expression profiles in PD patients, and highlight their putative roles in the diagnosis and treatment of this devastating disease.
Keywords
Parkinson’s disease, MicroRNA, Biomarker, Diagnosis
