Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society
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In the mid-1980s, the treatment of Parkinson's disease was quite exclusively centered on dopatherapy and was focusing on dopamine systems and motor symptoms. A few dopamine agonists and a monoamine oxidase B inhibitor (selegiline) were used as adjuncts in advanced Parkinson's disease. In the early 2010s, levodopa remains the gold standard. ⋯ Despite therapeutic advances, Parkinson's disease continues to be a relentlessly progressive disorder leading to severe disability. Neuroprotective interventions able to modify the progression of Parkinson's disease have stood out as a failed therapeutic goal over the last 2 decades, despite potentially encouraging results with compounds like rasagiline. Newer molecular targets, new animal models, novel clinical trial designs, and biomarkers to assess disease modification have created hope for future therapeutic interventions.
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There have been extraordinary advances in our knowledge of the underlying gene, the protein it encodes, various models of disease, and potential targets for effective therapies for Huntington disease. Huntington disease research has increased exponentially in the past 25 years, and we now understand many of the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. ⋯ Clinical research on biomarkers and clinical trials on potential neuroprotective agents are underway. Here we review our progress in these areas over the last 25 years and speculate on what the next 25 years may hold.