Parkinson's Gene
Amidst the rising conflict in the Middle East between Arabs and Jews comes a medical insight tonight---that maybe the two groups aren’t so different after all.
New research shows Arabs and Jews share a previously unrecognized genetic link for a common disease that previously wasn’t believed to have a significant inherited factor.
The fact is, most cases of Parkinson’s disease are considered to exist with no significant genetic link or inheritance.
But now, two new, separate studies show a gene abnormality that causes Parkinson’s does exist: one study showed it’s present in Ashkenazi Jews. The other, in Arabs.
“I noticed a kind of lack of fluidity in the movement of my left arm and I went to see my family doctor who referred me to a neurologist.” is it something in Lawrence Horowitz’s that caused him to develop Parkinson’s? Or does his genetic makeup hold the key to his troubles, and potentially, his cure?
New research in the New England Journal of Medicine shows Parkinson’s has a genetic link among Ashkenazi Jews--a mutation of a gene called LRRK 2 (pronounced “lurk 2”). LRRK stands for “leucine rich repeat kinase”.
Dr. Susan Bressman, the study’s researcher at Beth Israel Medical Center, says, “Close to thirty percent of Parkinson’s patients with a family history had this mutation and about thirteen percent of those who didn’t have a family history also had a mutation. So this shows that at least in the Ashkenazi Jews population a particular gene mutation is responsible for a large or significant proportion of Parkinson’s disease.”
Until now, people have disputed the importance of genetics in Parkinson’s disease.
“Just that we found that there is such a significant genetic component to Parkinson’s disease in Jews really raises the question of looking at other ethnic groups as well for genetic factors,” Dr. Bressman states.
And there is: another study in the same issue shows north African Arabs also carry the genetic mutation.
The authors say how important the gene is is still unknown, and whether and how it interacts with factors in the environment.
The risk to a child even if a parent has the gene mutation is not a hundred percent--even if they inherent it based on our finding they only have a thirty percent chance of getting parkinson’s disease.
“Well if it turns out that there is a genetic component to Parkinson’s and that I do have that then I would be concerned that it would be passed on to my children,” says Lawrence.
Co-author Dr. Laurie Ozelius, a researcher in molecular genetics at Albert Einstein School of Medicine, says, “For the families at least there is the potential for genetic testing.”
“Ultimately I think this mutation will be very important in terms of understanding the mechanism of the disease in all groups and understanding what this protein does in the brain and how it damages nerve cells,” adds Dr. Bressman.
And for two diametrically different groups, there is a common hope for a cure in the form of a gene treatment targeted at an abnormality they both share.
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