Parkinson's Disease Research Paper

The protein that is in sequence one is Alpha-synuclein. Alpha-synuclein is a protein whose function in the healthy brain is currently unknown (Alpha-synuclein and Parkinson's Disease, n.d.). Parkinson's disease researchers take great interest in it because it is a major constituent of Lewy bodies, which are protein clumps that are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (Alpha-synuclein and Parkinson's Disease, n.d.). Researchers work to characterize the protein's role in Parkinson’s and its potential as a target for neuroprotective therapies (Alpha-synuclein and Parkinson's Disease, n.d.). For a very small subset of Parkinson's patients, hereditary variability in the alpha-synuclein gene contributes to developing the disease (Alpha-synuclein …show more content…
Parkinson’s symptoms vary from person to person and early signs of Parkinson’s disease may go unnoticed. These symptoms include a tremor, slowed movement, rigid muscles, impaired posture and balance, loss of automatic movements, speech changes, and writing changes. As many as one million Americans live with Parkinson's disease, which is more than the combined number of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and Lou Gehrig's disease (Statistics on Parkinson's, n.d.). Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year, and this number does not reflect the thousands of cases that go undetected (Statistics on Parkinson's, n.d.) (Alpha-synuclein and Parkinson's Disease, n.d.). An estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's disease in the United States (Statistics on Parkinson's, n.d.). Incidence of Parkinson’s increases with age, but an estimated four percent of people with the disease are diagnosed before 50 (Statistics on Parkinson's,