Researchers Identify Mechanism that Leads to Sporadic Parkinson’s Disease

Researchers at the Taub Institute at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified a mechanism that appears to underlie the common sporadic (non-familial) form of Parkinson’s disease. The discovery highlights potential new therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s and could lead to a blood test for the disease. The study, based mainly on analysis of human brain tissue, appears in the current online edition of Nature Communications.

Studies of rare, familial (heritable) forms of Parkinson’s show that a protein called alpha-synuclein is involved in disease development. People who have extra copies of the alpha-synuclein gene produce excess alpha-synuclein protein, which can damage neurons. The effect is most pronounced in dopamine neurons — a population of brain cells in the substantia nigra that plays a key role in controlling normal movement and is lost in Parkinson’s. Another key feature of Parkinson’s is the presence of excess alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brain. For more information, click here to read the full release.