Podcast – Immune System’s Role in Parkinson’s
Monday, 8th July 2019

The immune system is supposed to keep us healthy, but in Parkinson’s it may be too much of a good thing. MJFF Contributing Editor Dave Iverson moderates a conversation with MJFF CEO Todd Sherer, PhD, and Jeff Bronstein, MD, PhD, director of the Movement Disorders Program at the University of California, Los Angeles where they discuss:

  • The overall function of the immune system
  • How the immune system and inflammation may play a role in Parkinson’s disease
  • How scientists are using immune system properties to develop therapies against the disease

Listen to the Podcast

 

 

LINKS BETWEEN PARKINSON’S AND IMMUNE RESPONSE

  • Pesticide exposure and head injury – risk factors for Parkinson’s – linked to inflammation
  • People with PD show inflammation in brain tissue
  • Imbalance in gut bacteria (microbiome) in PD may impact immune response
  • People with inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis C at greater risk of PD
  • People who took anti-inflammatory drugs for other conditions at lower risk of PD

Research funded by Shake It Up Australia Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation has uncovered a promising new therapy for Parkinson’s to reduce inflammation. Read more about this study

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