Individualized L-dopa therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590176
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Medical pharmacy
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUBARA Kazuo 京都大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (20127533)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YONEZAWA Atsushi 京都大学, 医学研究科, 講師 (90452341) ; FUKUDO Masahide 京都大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (60437233) ; OMURA Tomohiro 京都大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (00439035) ; NAKAGAWA Shunsaku 京都大学, 医学研究科, その他 (50721916)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: パーキンソン病 / L-dopa / ウエアリング・オフ / COMT遺伝子多型 / エンタカポン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

L-dopa remains the gold standard for treating Parkinson's disease (PD); however, long-term L-dopa treatment is associated with motor adverse effects, particularly wearing-off. Entacapone prevents catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) from metabolizing L-dopa into 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-L-phenylalanine in the periphery and ameliorates wearing-off in patients with PD treated with L-dopa for a prolonged period. In the present study, we examined whether the blood concentration of L-dopa was affected by COMT gene polymorphisms in patients taking L-dopa concomitantly with entacapone.
We demonstrated that entacapone did not change the area under the blood concentration-time curve of L-dopa in PD patient who had a low-activity COMT gene. This result suggests that the blood concentration of L-dopa taken concomitantly with entacapone is affected by the COMT gene polymorphism.

Free Research Field

臨床薬学