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Scientists find 5 new gene links to Parkinson's disease
Until the first genetic clue was found in 1997, the medical consensus was that Parkinson's had environmental causes.
Tue, Feb 01 2011 at 7:11 PM
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CAUSE: None of the tiny DNA changes is responsible by itself for causing for this complex disease of the nervous system, but in conjunction with other variants, boosts the risk of it. (Photo: jupiterimages)
An international consortium of scientists has found five variants of genes which are linked to Parkinson's disease, bringing the tally to 11, according to a paper published on Wednesday by The Lancet.
Until the first genetic clue was found in 1997, the medical consensus was that Parkinson's had environmental — in other words, non-inherited — causes.
The five variants were netted in an overview of genomic studies carried out by scientists in Britain, Germany, France, Iceland, the Netherlands and the United States.
None of the tiny DNA changes is responsible by itself for causing for this complex disease of the nervous system, but in conjunction with other variants, boosts the risk of it.
The 20 percent of patients who had the highest number of variants were two and a half times likelier to develop Parkinson's compared to the 20 percent with the least variants, the researchers found.
Parkinson's is a motor-system disorder which primarily affects people over the age of 50 and can lead to such severe trembling, stiffness and loss of balance that patients have trouble walking, talking or performing basic tasks.
The disease has been traced to the loss of cells which produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that ferries chemical messages within the brain.
There is no known cure, although the condition can be alleviated by a dopamine substitute.
That means the new findings are of limited use for clinicians, but they do add powerfully to the store of fundamental knowledge about the disease, the commonest neuro-degenerative disorder after Alzheimer's, the investigators said.
Copyright 2011 AFP Global Edition
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Stella
Feb 04 2011 at 11:38 AM
While genes certainly predispose individuals to Parkinson's, this article misleads us into believing the environmental component of this disease are unimportant. We still do not know whether a mutated gene is the cause of PD, or if its dysfunction causes the inability to properly respond to environmental stimuli, leading to neuron death. Inflammation in the brain, specifically in the areas around domapinergic neurons, can be caused by environmental and genetic issues, which both play an important
.... More
role in developing PD. That being said, genetic screening may be an invaluable factor in predicting PD onset, yet the need for early biomarkers remains a critical problem for clinicians.
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