The Use of Vitamin K2 in Patients With Parkinson's Disease and Mitochondrial Dysfunction (PD-K2): A Theranostic Pilot Study in a Placebo-Controlled Parallel Group Design

• Published in: Frontiers in neurology Vol. 11; p. 592104
• Main Authors: Prasuhn, Jannik, Kasten, Meike, Vos, Melissa, König, Inke R, Schmid, Sebastian M, Wilms, Britta, Klein, Christine, Brüggemann, Norbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 11.01.2021
• Subjects: Neurology; Parkin (PARK2); Parkinson's disease; PINK1; treatments; vitamin K2; PINK1; Parkin (PARK2); Parkinson's disease; treatments; vitamin K2
• ISSN: 1664-2295; 1664-2295
• DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2020.592104

Despite rapid advances in research on Parkinson's disease (PD), in particular in the elucidation of genetic contributions, no disease-modifying therapy has become available to date. In the proposed project, we aim to investigate the potential effects of vitamin K2 (long-chain menaquinone 7, MK-7) in genetically determined PD with mitochondrial dysfunction. A total of 130 study participants (26 biallelic / mutation carriers, 52 sporadic PD patients, and 52 healthy controls) will receive the trial medication (MK-7 or placebo for 1 week). 31P-Magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging of the forebrain and basal ganglia (31P-MRSI, primary endpoint) as well as other advanced neuroimaging methods, clinical assessment, including quantitative movement analysis, and biomarker sampling will be applied pre- and post-intervention. The proposed project is highly translational as it builds on compelling mechanistic data from animal studies as well as on a small preliminary data set in humans. Patients are selected based on their mutation-related mitochondrial dysfunction and compared to disease and a healthy control group in a personalized medicine approach. We will further investigate how neuroimaging and blood-derived biomarkers can predict individual treatment response in sporadic PD. This study was registered at the German Clinical Trial Registry (DRKS, DRKS00019932) on the 19th of December 2019.