News Section | Genomics
Immune system gene linked to Parkinson’s
A gene associated with the immune system may play a role in developing Parkinson’s disease, scientists said, marking a possible advance in the search for effective treatments.
A long-term study involved a global consortium, including Johns Hopkins researchers from the Center for Inherited Disease Research who performed genome-wide association studies on more than 4,000 DNA samples — half from unrelated patients with Parkinson”s and half from healthy “controls.”
The team confirmed that a gene in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region was strongly linked with Parkinson”s disease; this region contains a large number of genes related to immune system function.
The new data bolster previous studies that hinted about a role for infections, inflammation and autoimmunity in Parkinson’s disease.
This genetic finding demonstrates that inflammation isn’t simply a result of having the disease, but somehow is involved as a player in its origin.
“This is an exciting finding from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) which is completely hypothesis-independent and bias-free, based solely on looking at the whole genome and finding out what genes might be related to Parkinson’s,” says Kimberly Doheny, assistant professor, McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; assistant director of the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR); and director of the CIDR Genotyping Lab, Johns Hopkins University.
The study has been published August 17 in Nature Genetics.
Disclaimer: Bioscholar is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The articles are based on peer reviewed research, and discoveries/products mentioned in the articles may not be approved by the regulatory bodies.- Researchers uncover role of gene linked to Parkinsons Disease
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