Overview

• Analysis of post-mortem brain tissue with ViroFind revealed HPgV in half of Parkinson’s patients and in none of the control samples.
• Immune profiling of over 1,000 blood samples from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative mirrored brain findings by showing distinct immune signals in HPgV carriers.
• In carriers of the Parkinson’s-linked LRRK2 mutation, the immune response to HPgV differed markedly, suggesting a gene-virus interaction in disease development.
• Researchers are expanding cohorts to determine how frequently HPgV breaches the blood-brain barrier in both Parkinson’s and healthy individuals.
• Preclinical studies will test existing hepatitis C antiviral drugs in neural tissue against HPgV as a potential therapeutic strategy.