Parkinson's disease and neuroinflammation - Cellular pathology, mechanisms and therapeutic options

Refined examination techniques in neuropathology, more precise molecular characterization of biomaterials, and nuclear medicine studies of the CNS in Parkinson's disease provide ample evidence for relevant involvement of neuroinflammation in both post-mortem and intravital analyses. By evaluating ever larger and better-defined patient cohorts, it has also been shown that different neuroinflammatory cellular actors are involved. These cell types and their functions have been extensively studied in cell culture and animal models to understand the pathogenetic mechanisms of Parkinson's disease and form a basis for the development of translational therapeutic approaches. This review presents the current state of knowledge on the importance of neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease with a focus on the cellular pathology of astrocytes, microglia and T lymphocytes in model systems and in humans. The resulting therapeutic options, their human applicability and the potential for influencing the course of Parkinson's disease are enormous and will be discussed.