Pharmacogenomics—a New Frontier for Individualized Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease



Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease with
a significant public health burden. It is characterized by the gradual degeneration of
dopamine neurons in the central nervous system. Although symptomatic
pharmacological management remains the primary therapeutic method for PD,
clinical experience reveals significant inter-individual heterogeneity in treatment
effectiveness and adverse medication responses. The mechanisms behind the observed
interindividual variability may be elucidated by investigating the role of genetic
variation in human-to-human variances in medication responses and adverse effects.



This review aims to explore the impact of gene polymorphism on the efficacy of anti-
parkinsonian drugs. The identification of factors associated with treatment
effectiveness variability might assist the creation of a more tailored pharmacological
therapy with higher efficacy, fewer side outcomes, and cheaper costs.



In this review, we conducted a thorough search in databases such as PubMed, Web of
Science, and Google Scholar, and critically examined current discoveries on
Parkinson's disease pharmacogenetics. The ethnicity of the individuals, research
methodologies, and potential bias of these studies were thoroughly compared, with
the primary focus on consistent conclusions.



This review provides a summary of the existing data on PD pharmacogenetics,
identifies their its limitations, and offers insights that may be beneficial for future
research. Previous studies have investigated the impact of gene polymorphism on the
effectiveness and adverse effects of levodopa. The trendiest genes are the COMT
gene, DAT gene, and DRD2 gene. However, limited study on other anti-Parkinson's
drugs has been conducted.



Therefore, In order to develop an individualized precision treatment for PD, it is an
inevitable trend to carry out multi-center, prospective, randomized controlled clinical
trials of PD pharmacogenomics covering common clinical anti-PD drugs in large,
homogeneous cohorts.
