Genetic and Environmental Factors Behind Predisposition to Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) currently affects over 8.5 million individuals globally, a number estimated to rise to 12-17 million by 2040. Since the disorder is gradually becoming one of the most severe ailments affecting those aged 50+, the need for therapeutics that not only hinder but cure PD becomes more and more urgent. Consequently, understanding the factors by which PD susceptibility can be increased along with the pathology behind cases of genetic PD in the hopes of finding a correlation has been an area of interest within the scientific community for the past 50 years. Current research topics include the effects of environmental toxins such as MPTP and genetic mutations within genes including the LRRK2 gene and the SNCA gene which produces α-synuclein. This review covers the latest studies on the increased likelihood of PD caused by these factors and the connection they may have to developing effective pharmaceuticals to treat current and future cases of sporadic PD.