Vital link found in disease cure bid

SCIENTISTS say they are a step closer to finding new ways to treat Parkinson’s disease after mapping out a stage-by-stage picture of how the condition develops.

Researchers at Dundee University captured the way in which mutations in a gene lead to the most prevalent inherited form of the disease.

The gene, PARK2, makes a protein called parkin and it is thought that the way in which this protein is activated leads to the development of the condition, a neurodegenerative disorder.

The scientific team said the work gives further understanding of the possible causes of Parkinson’s disease and offers potential for multiple targets for therapeutics to be developed.

Dr Helen Walden, at the University of Dundee, said: “What we have done is work out how parkin is kept switched off, and how it is switched on. It is necessary for it to be switched off because it is only needed under certain conditions.

“By defining the multiple steps needed for going from off to on, we have provided the information needed to modulate each step. This is important because it reveals the mechanics behind a process that goes wrong in so many cases of Parkinson’s Disease.

“The fact there are several different stages offers the possibility of different ways to tackle the problems that occur in mutations of the gene and the subsequent activation, or lack of it, of parkin.”

The research was published in The EMBO Journal.