SysMedPD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Systems Medicine of Mitochondrial and biochemical Parkinson’s Disease and other related movement disorders (SysMedPD)
IRAS ID
216412
Contact name
Anthony Schapira
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research 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 have 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 stratify PD patients based on markers of biochemical dysfunction (e.g mitochondrial function) to aid in the development of new candidate neuro-protective compounds.
We hope by grouping people with Parkinson's into those with and without impaired mitochodrial function we 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 we will study patients, in two study sites in London, with both genetic forms of PD and those with idiopathic 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. The study is funded for 3 years with participants attending for upto 3 study visits each over this period.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1166
Date of REC Opinion
4 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion