Intense research efforts are currently directed at elucidating the etiology of 
Parkinson's disease (PD). One approach that has begun to shed light on the PD 
pathogenic pathways is the identification of disease genes through genetic 
linkage or association studies. These studies have revealed that several kinases 
may be involved in PD, as some PD genes encode kinases themselves while other PD 
genes are found in the same cellular pathways as kinases. Two of these kinases 
stand out as potential drug targets for novel PD therapy, namely leucine rich 
repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) and the alpha-synuclein (α-syn) phosphorylating 
polo-like kinase 2 (PLK2). Indeed, both α- syn and LRRK2 show genetic linkage as 
well as genetic association with PD, indicating their relevance to a large 
number of PD cases. Also, due to the dominant mode of α-syn and LRRK2 
inheritance and based on current knowledge of LRRK2 and α-syn phosphorylation by 
PLK2, inhibition of LRRK2 and PLK2 may constitute a potential therapy for PD. 
Here we discuss the function of these kinases as well as progress in their 
validation as drug targets for the treatment of PD.