- U.S.-led study suggests many Chinese Parkinson's disease victims
carry a genetic mutation that originated from a common ancestor
about 4,800 years ago.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. and the
National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, found ethnic
Chinese individuals carrying a mutation they identified in the LRRK2
gene are two times more likely to develop the disease than non-
carriers.

Given the population of China and the number of ethnic Chinese
worldwide, that mutation might predispose more people to developing
Parkinson's disease than any other genetic factor, the scientists
said. However, they caution not everyone with the mutation develops
the disease, and in those who do, other genetic and environmental
factors are probably in play.

Mayo Clinic neuroscientist Matthew Farrer, lead author of the study,
said the finding is a small part of the ongoing genetic revolution
in medicine. "Seemingly sporadic Parkinson's disease may be a
familial disorder, and we're finding that the genetic risk factors
for Parkinson's disease are population specific," he said.

The study was published in the online edition of Parkinsonism and
Related Disorders.



Jan 25 , 2007(Daily India News)