Parkinson’s Disease

By Emily Cartwright, PhD

The protein PINK1 is a mitochondrial-located serine/threonine kinase (PTK) that maintains organelle function and integrity. It not only protects organelles from cellular stress, but it also uses the selective auto-phagocytosis process for cleaning and clearing cell damage. Exner et al initially reported that, in humans, a PINK1 deficiency is linked to autosomal recessive incidences of both neurodegenerative pathology and Parkinson's Disease (PD) (1).