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Updated: May 18, 2026

Assaying the Kinase Activity of LRRK2 in vitro
Published on: January 18, 2012
Parkinson's disease: leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 and autophagy, intimate enemies
José M Bravo-San Pedro1, Rubén Gómez-Sánchez, Elisa Pizarro-Estrella
1Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular y Genética, E. Enfermería y T.O., Universidad de Extremadura, 10003 Cáceres, Spain.
Abstract:
Parkinson's disease is the second common neurodegenerative disorder, after Alzheimer's disease. It is a clinical syndrome characterized by loss of dopamine-generating cells in the substancia nigra, a region of the midbrain. The etiology of Parkinson's disease has long been through to involve both genetic and environmental factors. Mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene cause late-onset Parkinson's disease with a clinical appearance indistinguishable from Parkinson's disease idiopathic. Autophagy is an intracellular catabolic mechanism whereby a cell recycles or degrades damage proteins and cytoplasmic organelles. This degradative process has been associated with cellular dysfunction in neurodegenerative processes including Parkinson's disease. We discuss the role of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 in autophagy, and how the deregulations of this degradative mechanism in cells can be implicated in the Parkinson's disease etiology.
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