Gene discovery may transform treatment of Parkinson’s disease

A GENE defect linked to Parkinson’s disease may not only cause the early death of neurons, but also impair the process that generates neurons in the brain throughout our lifetime, a new Yorkshire-led study has revealed.

Researchers say the results may have a significant impact on the future treatment of Parkinson’s patients who develop the illness due to the Parkinson’s gene PINK1 defect or similar gene defects.

The development of novel treatments and therapies to slow down disease progression, halt or reverse Parkinson’s may now focus on enhancing the generation of new dopamine-producing neurons, rather than just trying to protect these neurons from dying later.

The international research, led by University of Sheffield’s Neuroscience Institute, used two systems to examine how neurons are produced throughout our lifetime.

Dopamine-producing neurons are the most severely affected brain cells in Parkinson’s disease. It is typically thought that Parkinson’s genes, such as PINK1, cause early death of these neurons, with symptoms developing when neuron numbers fall. However, here, researchers found that a deficiency in PINK1 resulted in fewer dopamine-producing neurons being made throughout life.

Professor Oliver Bandmann, from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), said: “If we can further our understanding...we can develop new therapeutic approaches that aim to mitigate those effects.”

There are an estimated 145,000 people in the UK living with Parkinson’s disease.