Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

Protein kinases linked to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease.

Shen J

Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Two papers in this issue of Neuron identify a causative gene, LRRK2, for familial parkinsonism. Several dominantly inherited missense mutations have been identified in a number of families that exhibit a broad spectrum of neuropathological features, including deposition of alpha-synuclein and tau proteins. The LRRK2 gene is predicted to encode a large protein containing leucine-rich repeats and Ras/GTPase, tyrosine kinase-like, and WD40 domains.

Published 15 November 2004 in Neuron, 44(4): 575-7.
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