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Review

Mitochondrial proteomics as a selective tool for unraveling Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis

, &
Pages 205-226
Published online: 09 Jan 2014
 

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the large-scale loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the formation of protein aggregates that accumulate in the cytoplasm of the remaining dopaminergic neurons. Most cases arise sporadically, while the precise cause remains obscure. This lack of understanding as to the etiology of PD continues to serve as a major barrier for delivering effective therapeutics. Mitochondria are potent integrators and coordinators of apoptosis, necrosis and cell survival. Neurotoxin-based and genetically modified animals, which mimic aspects of the core pathologies seen in human PD, support a role for oxidative stress, production of reactive oxygen species in excess and mitochondrial dysfunction in PD pathogenesis. This and other similar discoveries provide a convergence point for an explosion of morphological, biochemical, molecular, cell and animal model studies for investigating the contribution made by mitochondrial dysfunction to PD pathology. Proteomics screening technologies have proved to be a valuable aid in the investigator’s tool bag, by which to confirm a prominent role for mitochondrial proteins in PD pathology. Here, we discuss how an improved understanding of the mitochondrial proteome through the application of high-throughput proteomics, combined with genetic studies and pharmacological manipulations to influence mitochondrial dynamics and functions, promises to give insights into PD’s underlying disease mechanisms. Ultimately, such insights may pave the way towards designing novel strategies for providing symptomatic, neuroprotective and restorative therapeutic options to PD patients.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Ben Micklem of the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, Oxford University, for his valuable assistance in compiling the figures used in this review article. They also thank Paul Bolam from Oxford University for valuable discussions concerning this review.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Ilse Pienaar’s research receives financial support from the British and South African Medical Research Councils. Pierre Burkhard acknowledges the financial generosity of the Memorial A de Rothschild Foundation, the Edmond J Safra Philanthropic Foundation, the Gustaaf Hamburger Foundation, the Ernst and Lucie Schmidheiny Foundation and the Swiss Parkinson Foundation. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

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