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London: Scientists have identified a gene responsible for developing Parkinson’s disease, a discovery that could lead to new ways to treat the degenerative disorder.

Researchers at Stanford University, California, found a molecule, called microRNA, which causes the death of nerve cell in the brain, triggering Parkinson’s disease.

Describing their discovery as a “significant step forward” in the battle against the degenerative disease, the scientists said it would pave the way for new drugs that could block the molecule’s action in its tracks.

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition resulting in tremor, difficulty in moving and loss of balance that’s usually diagnosed after the age of 60, although one in twenty sufferers is fewer than forty.

A person with Parkinson’s will only develop symptoms once around 80 per cent of these cells are lost, so they may have had the condition for some time before problems come to attention, the Telegraph reported.

The researchers, who carried their study on common fruit fly Drosophila, found that the gene variant results in impaired activity of chemicals which fine-tune protein production in cells.

Lead author Prof Bingwei Lu said: “MicroRNA, whose role in the body has only recently begun to be figured out, has been implicated in cancer, cardiac dysfunction and faulty immune response.

“But this is the first time it has been identified as a key player in a neurodegenerative disease.”

The new findings, published in the journal Nature, showed how the mutation trips up normal activity leading to overproduction of at least two proteins that can cause brain cells to die.

Prof Lu and colleagues noticed that laboratory flies with the gene variant had high levels of these proteins after developing brain damage associated with Parkinson’s.

And toning down the levels of these two proteins prevented the death of dopamine nerve cells in the flies.

Prof Lu said: “The flies no longer got symptoms of Parkinson’s. This alone has immediate therapeutic implications.

“Many pharmaceutical companies are already making compounds that act on these two proteins, which in previous studies have been shown to be associated with cancer.

“It may be possible to take these compounds off the shelf or quickly adapt them for use in non-cancer indications such as Parkinson’s.”

Currently available drugs for the disease temporarily alleviate its symptoms but can have undesirable side effects, and they don’t prevent dopamine cells from dying.

Prof Lu said: “The clinical impact of our findings may be five to 10 years down the road. But their impact on our understanding of the disease process is immediate.”

Dr Kieran Breen, director of research at Parkinson’s UK, hailed the new study, saying: “This breakthrough represents a significant step forward towards developing treatments that will actually stop the process of nerve cell death something no current treatments can do.”
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Thanks to www.zeenews.com