NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mutations in the gene encoding dardarin appear to be involved in PARK8 Parkinson’s disease, European and US researchers report in the October 22nd online edition of Neuron.
“We believe that the gene we found might turn out to be one of the major players in familial Parkinson disease,” investigator Dr. Jordi Perez-Tur told Reuters Health.
This may be so, “as it has been shown that a number of families, with such a different ethnic origins as Japan or the Basque country, are due to mutations in this gene or are related to this genetic region.”
In particular, Dr. Perez-Tur of Institut de Biomedicina de Valencia-CSIC, Spain and colleagues found that four Basque families and one the UK had evidence of PARK8 Parkinson’s disease.
Dardarin mutations were seen throughout the brain and were not present in 1400 chromosomes from controls. Moreover, within the families, the dardarin mutation was present in those with Parkinson’s disease, but not in those without the disease.
The researchers also found such a mutations in 8% of 137 apparently unrelated Basques with Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that it may be a relatively common cause of the disease in this population.
Although the function of dardarin is unknown, the team observes that it is “particularly tempting” to hypothesize that it may have a role “in the phosphorylation of proteins central to Parkinson’s disease.”
In light of these findings, Dr. Perez-Tur concluded, “the molecular pathways where this gene may be involved will open new avenues of research that should identify additional therapeutic targets.”
Source: Neuron 2004. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Behavioral Sciences: Data Collection: Demography: Behavioral Disciplines and Activities: Environment and Public Health: Epidemiologic Methods: Health: Health Occupations: Health Services Administration: Information Science: Medicine: Investigative Techniques: Morbidity: Population Characteristics: Preventive Medicine: Public Health: Quality of Health Care: Social Sciences: Specialties, Medical: Vital Statistics: Epidemiologic Measurements: Prevalence: Gene Deletion: Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation: Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms: Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment: Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena: Biological Sciences: Health Care: Information Science: Psychiatry and PsychologyCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
