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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Inflammation Pharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1408152
This article is part of the Research Topic Women in Inflammation Pharmacology: 2023 View all 4 articles

The role of autophagy in Parkinson's disease: a gender difference overview

Provisionally accepted
Laura Cucinotta Laura Cucinotta 1Deborah Mannino Deborah Mannino 1Alessia Filippone Alessia Filippone 1Adele Romano Adele Romano 2Emanuela Esposito Emanuela Esposito 1Irene Paterniti Irene Paterniti 1,3*
  • 1 Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
  • 2 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 3 University of Messina, Messina, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Recent studies have demonstrated dysregulation of the autophagy pathway in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and in animal models of PD, highlighting its emerging role in disease. In particular, several studies indicate that autophagy, which is an essential degradative process for the damaged protein homeostasis and the management of cell balance, can manifest significant variations according to gender. While some evidence suggests increased autophagic activation in men with PD, women may have distinct regulatory patterns. In this review, we examined the existing literature on gender differences in PD-associated autophagic processes, focusing on the autophagy related proteins (ATGs) and leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) genes. Also, this review would suggest that an indepth understanding of these gender differences in autophagic processes could open new perspectives for personalized therapeutic strategies, promoting more effective and targeted management of PD.

    Keywords: Parkinson's disease, gender differences, Autophagy, ATG (autophagy-related) proteins, leucin rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2)

    Received: 27 Mar 2024; Accepted: 21 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cucinotta, Mannino, Filippone, Romano, Esposito and Paterniti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Irene Paterniti, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

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