[Tupelo3]

A recent study questions long-held assumptions about the way a brain protein affects the progression of Parkinson's disease.

Demetrius Maraganore, a neurologist at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, has been working with Mayo Clinic researchers to study that brain protein, focusing on its relationship to two key effects of Parkinson's disease: motor and cognitive impairment and dementia.

Maraganore said the recently released study of 1,098 Mayo patients over 15 years suggests that lowering alpha-synuclein may have the opposite effect of what doctors have long thought. Rather than help, that treatment may increase the risk of Parkinson's patients becoming physically incapacitated and demented, he said.

The study found that patients with a lower amount of alpha-synuclein had a 23 percent greater risk of becoming wheelchair dependent or developing dementia, Maraganore said. The finding runs counter to a clinical trial underway in Vienna that's designed to reduce alpha synuclein in Parkinson's patients.

Maraganore said it appears that alpha-synuclein has a dual and opposite effect. His study suggests that before a person develops Parkinson's, less alpha-synuclein is good and reduces the risk for developing the disease. But it seems that once the disease is contracted, less of the protein is bad, posing a greater risk for motor impairment or dementia, he said.


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