Hot Topics in Recent Parkinson's Disease Research: Where We are and Where We Should Go

Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disease, is clinically characterized by both motor and non-motor symptoms. Although overall great achievements have been made in elucidating the etiology and pathogenesis of PD, the exact mechanisms of this complicated systemic disease are still far from being clearly understood. Consequently, most of the currently-used diagnostic tools and therapeutic options for PD are symptomatic. In this perspective review, we highlight the hot topics in recent PD research for both clinicians and researchers. Some of these hot topics, such as sleep disorders and gut symptoms, have been neglected but are currently emphasized due to their close association with PD. Following these research directions in future PD research may help understand the nature of the disease and facilitate the discovery of new strategies for the diagnosis and therapy of PD.