Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Aug 23:9:701.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00701. eCollection 2018.

Application of Precision Medicine in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Claudia Strafella  1   2 , Valerio Caputo  1 , Maria R Galota  3 , Stefania Zampatti  3 , Gianluca Marella  4 , Silvestro Mauriello  4 , Raffaella Cascella  3   5 , Emiliano Giardina  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Application of Precision Medicine in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Claudia Strafella et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

One of the main challenges for healthcare systems is the increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative pathologies together with the rapidly aging populations. The enormous progresses made in the field of biomedical research and informatics have been crucial for improving the knowledge of how genes, epigenetic modifications, aging, nutrition, drugs and microbiome impact health and disease. In fact, the availability of high technology and computational facilities for large-scale analysis enabled a deeper investigation of neurodegenerative disorders, providing a more comprehensive overview of disease and encouraging the development of a precision medicine approach for these pathologies. On this subject, the creation of collaborative networks among medical centers, research institutes and highly qualified specialists can be decisive for moving the precision medicine from the bench to the bedside. To this purpose, the present review has been thought to discuss the main components which may be part of precise and personalized treatment programs applied to neurodegenerative disorders. Parkinson Disease will be taken as an example to understand how precision medicine approach can be clinically useful and provide substantial benefit to patients. In this perspective, the realization of web-based networks can be decisive for the implementation of precision medicine strategies across different specialized centers as well as for supporting clinical/therapeutical decisions and promoting a more preventive and participative medicine for neurodegenerative disorders. These collaborative networks are essentially addressed to find innovative, sustainable and effective strategies able to provide optimal and safer therapies, discriminate at risk individuals, identify patients at preclinical or early stage of disease, set-up individualized and preventative strategies for improving prognosis and patient's quality of life.

Keywords: Parkinson disease; neurodegenerative diseases; omic profiles; precision medicine; research networks.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Yacoubian TA. Neurodegenerative disorders: why do we need new therapies? In: Adejare A. editor. Drug Discovery Approaches for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders. London: Academic Press; (2017). p. 1–16.
    1. Delamarre A, Meissner WG. Epidemiology, environmental risk factors and genetics of Parkinson's disease. Presse Med. (2017) 46:175–81. 10.1016/j.lpm.2017.01.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. von Campenhausen S, Winter Y, Rodrigues e, Silva A, Sampaio C, Ruzicka E, Barone P, et al. . Costs of illness and care in Parkinson's disease: an evaluation in six countries. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. (2011) 21:180–91. 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2010.08.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rousseaux MWC, Shulman JM, Jankovic J. Progress toward an integrated understanding of Parkinson's disease. F1000Res. (2017) 6:1121. 10.12688/f1000research.11820.1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ryan BJ, Hoek S, Fon EA, Wade-Martins R. Mitochondrial dysfunction and mitophagy in Parkinson's: from familial to sporadic disease. Trends Biochem Sci. (2015) 40:200–10. 10.1016/j.tibs.2015.02.003 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources