Antibodies targeting GPNMB may slow Parkinson's disease progression

Monoclonal antibodies can block a key immune‑related protein that drives the spread of brain cell damage in Parkinson's disease (PD). This protein, called glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma B (GPNMB), might be part of a promising strategy for developing a treatment that slows disease progression at its earliest stages, according to a new study published today in Neuron, from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Many patients with Parkinson's disease are diagnosed in the early stages, when symptoms are relatively mild, but there is currently no treatment that slows the progression. These early results are a promising step towards developing this type of treatment."

PD affects more than one million people in the United States, with roughly 90,000 new diagnoses each year. While the exact cause of the disease remains unclear, scientists have long known that PD spreads through the brain in stages.

This progression is driven by abnormal clumps of a neuronal protein called alpha‑synuclein. These clumps accumulate inside affected neurons, contributing to their dysfunction and death, and are then released and taken up by nearby healthy neurons. As this pathology moves through different brain regions, patients experience the worsening symptoms that characterize PD, like tremors and difficulty walking or swallowing.