Word: synuclein
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...first place to look for causes of and treatments for Parkinson's disease is in the brains of patients. As the illness worsens, brain tissue becomes clogged with a protein muck that includes a substance called alpha-synuclein. No one knows exactly what alpha-synuclein does, but it's believed to play a role in the smooth transmission of nerve signals. When the substance clumps, it can't do the work it was designed to do, leading to neuron damage, loss of the neurotransmitter dopamine and eventually the familiar shakiness of such well-known Parkinson's sufferers as Janet Reno...
...hunt for a Parkinson's cure got a boost in 1997 when researchers discovered a handful of patients whose alpha-synuclein genes had mutated. This might seem like open-and-shut evidence that the cause of the illness had been found, except that the vast majority of Parkinson's patients, whose brains also grow gummed up, do not carry the mutation. Still, scientists believe that the bad gene is a powerful clue. "There appear to be more clumps in the brains of people with the mutant gene," says Zigmond. "Learning how the protein functions may help us develop drugs that...
...attention. In 1998 Japanese researchers reported on studies conducted on five young patients with early-onset Parkinson's, all of whom carried a recessive gene that appeared to be associated with the disease. Though relatively rare, the parkin gene is much more common than the defective alpha-synuclein gene, and in places like China, with high rates of early-onset Parkinson's, it may play a role in a significant number of cases. Just last October, researchers at Duke University Medical Center went a step further, reporting their discovery of a previously unseen mutation on the parkin gene that appears...
...hunt for a Parkinson’s cure got a boost in 1997, when researchers discovered a tiny population of patients who have a mutant gene that codes for alpha-synuclein. This might seem like open-and-shut evidence that the cause of the illness had been found, except that the vast majority of Parkinson’s patients, whose brains also grow gummed up, do not carry the mutation. Still, scientists are convinced that the bad gene is a powerful clue. "There appear to be more clumps in the brains of people with the mutant gene," says Zigmond. "Learning...
...also been getting a lot of attention. In 1998, Japanese researchers were studying a young patient with early-onset Parkinson’s and found a recessive gene that appeared to be associated with the disease. Though relatively rare, the parkin gene is much more common than the defective alpha-synuclein gene, and in places like China, with high rates of early-onset Parkinson’s, it may play a role in up to 20% of cases. Just last October, researchers at Duke University went a step further, discovering a previously unseen mutation on the parkin gene that appears to link...