Precision Medicine in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Part II

Precision Medicine in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Part Two, Volume 193 in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology deals with the "How" in the reconfiguration of our approach to slow accelerated brain aging. The book rethinks animal models on which therapies are tested, outlines the progress and expected changes in biological subtyping efforts using lysosomal, endosomal, mitochondrial, immune dysregulation, and inflammatory mechanisms of disease pathophysiology, and the growing role of microbiome in shaping disease. The volume separates the potentially disease-modifying neurorescue and neurorestoration, (e.g., gene therapy and cell replacement therapy) from true precision "medicine"–matching biology with the mechanism of intervention of interest.Specific chapters are dedicated to the promise and challenges of extracellular vesicles for both diagnosis and treatment, the growing application of dgtl measures and other evaluations of clinical response, the nuts and bolts of novel adaptive clinical trial designs, and the regulatory changes needed to facilitate drug development for disease-modification purposes.- Summarizes theory and research on precision medicine in neurodegenerative disorders- Covers basic biology, clinical trials and therapeutics- Includes disease mechanisms, genetic subtypes, and more

About the Author

Dr. Alberto Espay is Professor and Endowed Chair of the James J. and Joan A. Gardner Center for Parkinson’s disease at the University of Cincinnati. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed research articles and 8 books, including Common Movement Disorders Pitfalls, which received the Highly Commended BMA Medical Book Award in 2013 and Brain Fables, the Hidden History of Neurodegenerative Diseases and a Blueprint to Conquer them, coauthored with Parkinson patient and advocate Benjamin Stecher, selected by the Association of American Publishers for the PROSE Award honoring the best scholarly work in Neuroscience published in 2020. He has served as Chair of the Movement Disorders Section of the American Academy of Neurology, Associate Editor of the Movement Disorders journal, and on the Executive Committee of the Parkinson Study Group. Among other honors, he has received the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Health Care Hero award, the Spanish Society of Neurology’s Cotzias award, and honorary membership in the Mexican Academy of Neurology. He currently serves as President-Elect of the Pan-American Section of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society. With colleagues at the University of Cincinnati, he launched the first biomarker study of aging (CCBPstudy.com), designed to match people with neurodegenerative disorders to available therapies from which they are most biologically suitable to benefit, regardless of their clinical diagnoses.