Immunogenetics of Parkinson's disease
Inflammation is a key feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In postmortem PD brains, microglial activation and enhanced major histocompatibility class II (MHCII) expression are seen concomitant to the accumulation of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein) and loss of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra. Recent findings showed that α-synuclein epitopes can be presented and recognized by T-cells. PD is