Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by abnormal protein handling in the brain producing cytotoxic species that spread resulting in a progressive deterioration of function depending on the specific proteinopathy and the involved brain regions. Parkinson's disease is a disease of misfolding of the protein alpha synuclein (a-syn). Unlike Alzheimer's dementia where there are PET imaging biomarkers for the two rogue proteins, beta-amyloid and tau, there's no equivalent PET tracer to interrogate distribution of a-syn in brain. This is an important tool in the develop-ment of disease modifying drugs which target a-syn. This article reviews this process in more detail and discusses the prospects for developing such a radiotracer.
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