MTDH and Parkinson disease: However, the overexpression of AEG-1 in DA neurons was not sufficient to protect the whole nigrostriatal DA projection in the animal model of PD owing to its limited protective effects as it did not affect the aberrant accumulation of autophagic components and Akt/mTORC1 activity following 6-OHDA administration, which could contribute to the neurotoxic effects on the nigrostriatal DA system.