Research shows Parkinson’s is primarily an inherited genetic disorder

April 17th, 2008 - 3:12 pm ICT by admin

Washington, April 17 (ANI): Mayo Clinic scientists have found in two international studies that Parkinsons disease is primarily an inherited genetic disorder.

The researchers say that their findings are based on various mutations observed during the two studies.

According to them, the new research overturns common beliefs that the neurodegenerative disease mostly occurs in a random fashion or due to undetermined environmental factors.

In all, the research brings the total number of disease-related mutations in an as yet poorly understood gene, known as leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), to seven.

All these mutations are linked to typical, late onset development of Parkinson’s disease in people around the world, say the researchers.

In a study report, appearing in the online edition of the Annals of Neurology, the researchers have revealed that one mutation (R1628P) doubles the risk of Parkinson’s disease in ethnic Chinese. This mutation arose from a single individual in the Han Chinese population about 2,500 years ago and has since spread through generations of descendants, wherever they live.

“The picture that is emerging of Parkinson’s disease is one in which genetic risk factors, passed down through the population for hundreds or thousands of years, add up to substantial susceptibility within a single individual, and, with some possible environmental influences, can result in disease,” says Mayo Clinic neuroscientist Dr. Owen A. Ross, first author on the study.

READ MORE:http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/..._10038955.html

Different Mutations In Single Gene Suggest Parkinson's Is Primarily An Inherited Genetic Disorder

ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2008) — Two new international studies by researchers at the Mayo Clinic site in Florida are rounding out the notion that Parkinson's disease is largely caused by inherited genetic mutations that pass through scores of related generations over hundreds, if not thousands of years. These genetic influences, which can be small but additive, or large and causative, overturn common beliefs that the neurodegenerative disease mostly occurs in a random fashion or is due to undetermined environmental factors.

These latest studies bring the total of number of disease-related mutations in an as yet poorly understood gene, leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), to seven, all of which are linked, either weakly or strongly, to typical, late onset development of Parkinson's disease in people around the world. One mutation (R1628P) doubles the risk of Parkinson's disease in ethnic Chinese, according to a study published on April 16, 2008 in the online edition of the Annals of Neurology. The second study, published April 15 in Neurology, demonstrates that another very rare mutation (R1441C), found in people on three continents, increases risk by more than 10-fold.

READ MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0416104317.htm