Pegylated granulocyte-colony stimulating factor as a therapeutic option in Parkinson's disease

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) are caused by a slowly progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The hematopoietic granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) plays a crucial role in controlling the number of neutrophil progenitor cells. Its function is mediated via the G-CSF receptor, which is expressed not only on hematopoietic cells but also by dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra (SN), suggesting that G-CSF might be neuroprotective for dopaminergic neurons and a candidate molecule for the treatment of PD. Recently, we provided prove-of-principle that daily G-CSF…