Scientists Say Immune System Gene Linked to Parkinson's

Researchers have said that a gene associated with the immune system may play a role in developing Parkinson's disease.

Researchers have said that a gene associated with the immune system may play a role in developing Parkinson's disease. This is a possible advance in the search for effective treatments.

A long-term study involved a global consortium, including Johns Hopkins researchers from the Center for Inherited Disease Research who performed genome-wide association studies on more than 4,000 DNA samples - half from unrelated patients with Parkinson's and half from healthy "controls."

Parkinson’s Disease - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease caused by progressive dopamine brain cells loss. Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are correctable to an extent.

The team confirmed that a gene in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region was strongly linked with Parkinson's disease; this region contains a large number of genes related to immune system function.

The new data bolster previous studies that hinted about a role for infections, inflammation and autoimmunity in Parkinson's disease.

This genetic finding demonstrates that inflammation isn't simply a result of having the disease, but somehow is involved as a player in its origin.

Parkinson's Disease
Slide animation on Parkinson disease. It is a progressive movement disorder due to degeneration of nerve cells of the substantia nigra of the brain. The symptoms get worse with time but drugs or surgery can control them. PD cannot be cured.

"This is an exciting finding from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) which is completely hypothesis-independent and bias-free, based solely on looking at the whole genome and finding out what genes might be related to Parkinson's," says Kimberly Doheny, assistant professor, McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; assistant director of the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR); and director of the CIDR Genotyping Lab, Johns Hopkins University.

The study has been published August 17 in Nature Genetics.

Parkinson's Disease - Surgical Treatment
Slide animation on surgery for Parkinson disease. Surgery is only indicated where drugs fail to control the symptoms of this progressive movement disorder. Surgery cannot cure the disease.

Source-ANI