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This lecture is aimed to deliver
to you a short introduction into
the field of clinical proteomics
in neurodegenerative disease.
The increasing use of
proteomic methods in
this field will be shown to
you by using my own example,
as far as this is possible,
to give you an insight into
the potential of these methods,
as well as the pitfalls
you have to face
when working with these methods.
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When we use the expression
neurodegenerative diseases,
we enter a foggy terrain.
The definition of these
disorders is fuzzy.
In general, we see the
loss of synapses and
the decay of neuronal
function in these disorders
that finally lead to the
loss of neurons and to brain
atrophy that can be detected
by imaging techniques.
From a clinical perspective,
most of these disorders
show an increasing
impairment of cognitive
functions that finally
lead to the development
of dementia.
The clinical phenotype
of these dementias
can be separated
by the pattern of
impairment in cognitive
functions that
sometimes mirrors the pattern
seen in brain atrophy.
These emerge in
different phenotypes
of dementia in the
clinical picture,
sometimes allowing
the diagnosis of
the underlying
neurodegenerative process.
All in all, under
the terminology,
we've got a collection
of different
heterogeneous diseases,
including Alzheimer's disease
and Parkinson's disease.
The World Health
Organization estimates
that over 40 million
people worldwide
suffer from dementia today,
and about 60% of them
have Alzheimer's disease.
There are also millions of
Parkinson's disease
patients worldwide.
It is clear that
these disorders have
an enormous human
and economic impact,
and it is also obvious that
research in these areas is
needed as we don't
have a final cure
for any one of these disorders.
A common thing that has
showed up in recent years,
is that the alterations
in protein generation
and turnover might lie at
the core of these disorders.
A common trait of many
of these diseases,
