Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Approximately 60,000 people get diagnosed with PD in the United States alone and around 10 million people live with this motor disorder.
With the aging population of the world increasing, this age-dependent neurodegenerative disease is a substantial socioeconomic burden. Further complicating the situation is the lack of disease-modifying therapy, while the treatments available can only take care of the symptoms.
RNA mis-splicing as a potential mechanism of neurodegeneration.
The study by Boussaad et al. demonstrated that a mutation in one of the disease-causing gene, DJ-1 leads to mis-splicing of DJ-1.