HEALTH
People who carry a rare gene variant are about half as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who carry a different version of the gene, a new study has found. Researchers have started to unravel exactly how this genetic quirk might protect against Parkinson’s by preserving the function of a crucial enzyme needed for cells’ metabolism and survival. A better understanding of the protective mechanism could lead to new treatments for the disease. “This study advances our understanding of why people might get Parkinson’s and how we might develop new therapies for this devastating disease,” said Dr Pinchas Cohen, dean of the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.
Parkinson’s disease emerges when movement-controlling cells in the brain die off over time. The loss of these neurons causes the well-known movement symptoms of the disease, such as tremors, muscle stiffness and impaired balance, as well as lesser known symptoms including emotional changes, sleep disturbances and cognitive decline. Scientists don’t yet fully understand what triggers the neuron loss in Parkinson’s, but the dysfunction of mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells, has long been considered a hallmark of the disease. The gene variant uncovered in the new study is related to the function of mitochondria, underscoring the importance of this connection.
The majority of our DNA lies tucked away in cells’ control centres, or nuclei, but mitochondria actually carry their own set of DNA that’s passed down from mother to offspring. In previous research, Cohen and his colleagues found that a tiny protein made in the mitochondria, called SHLP2, appears key to their function and declines with age. Later, other researchers found that certain versions of the gene for SHLP2 are tied to a lower Parkinson’s risk, but it wasn’t clear why. So Cohen and his collaborators zoomed in on the SHLP2 gene. First they screened for different versions of the gene in the mitochondrial DNA of thou
