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UAB Researches LRRK2 Gene Linked to Parkinson’s Disease

CARA CLARK

UAB Researches LRRK2 Gene Linked to Parkinson’s Disease
UAB researchers — who received a $200,000 grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to study a mutation gene, LRRK2 — have made a direct link between LRRK2 and the existence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in some families. The grant allows researchers to study the role of kinase activity in the gene, but already the UAB Department of Neurology has determined the mutation gene’s relationship to heredity.

Andrew West, PhD, is one of the lead researchers investigating the LRRK2 gene and its passage from generation to generation. It is breakthrough research, West said, particularly considering that 15 years ago PD was believed to have no ties to genetics.

According to West, “The LRRK2 gene was identified in families that transmit Parkinson’s from one generation to the next in a dominant transmission. We analyzed (the family members’) DNA to find what was common among everyone who has the disease and those who don’t. In this case, (the ones with Parkinson’s) had the LRRK2 gene. We know that LRRK2 causes a percentage of Parkinson’s.”

West said up to 5 percent of cases of Parkinson’s disease cases can be attributed to the LRRK2 mutation gene. Despite 95 percent of PD cases remaining with undetermined causes, the identification of the inherited LRRK2 gene is a positive step.

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