Can exercise alter regulation of gene expression and slow neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease?

Title: Can exercise alter regulation of gene expression and slow neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease?

PI: Dr. Helen Piontkivska (College of Arts and Sciences), Dr. Angela Ridgel (College of Education, Health, and Human Services)

Co-PIs: Dr. Marcelo T. Mira (School of Medicine, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil)

Parkinson’s disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disorder, is one of the leading causes of disability globally. PD affects ~600,000 people in US and up to 10 million people worldwide with anticipated number of affected people doubling in the next two decades. The overall objective of this project is to investigate the influence of forced exercise (dynamic high-cadence cycling) on changes in ADAR editing landscapes of key excitome genes, and to identify whether specific changes are associated with persistent improvement of PD motor symptoms as evaluated by the UPDRS III motor scale. Comparisons of editing landscapes of PD subjects before and after the exercise regimen offer an internal validation that is not dependent on potential environmental and genetic variation among subjects, and that can help inform the development of PD progression biomarkers or even novel therapeutic strategies.