U.S. Gives $20M to Study Gene-Environmental Links to PD

A three-way research effort has been put into motion this fall to determine the relationship between exposure to environmental agents, such as pesticides, and the onset of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

The $20 million, five-year venture is being undertaken at the Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, CA.; Emory University in Atlanta; and at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Grants to finance the new research have been provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Our best chance for finding successful treatments for persons suffering with PD is to understand more about what triggers the disease,” NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., said in announcing the new funding. “Even better, this research may lead to ways to prevent PD in the first place.”

Recent findings suggest, according to NIH, that Parkinson’s may result from a combination of exposure to harmful environmental agents and inherited susceptibility for developing PD. The disease is marked by the death of cells in the brain that produce and release the neurotransmitter dopamine. Current drug therapies, which attempt to replace the lost dopamine, can relieve some symptoms but do not cure or slow the disease.

The three centers, Dr. Olden said, will conduct their research independently but will also have the benefit of acting as a consortium, collaborating and taking advantage of each other’s knowledge and expertise.

“We have some good clues about what environmental agents and genes may be important in PD,” he added. “This new consortium should bring together the right mix of scientists so that these leads can be pursued quickly.”

Of the three centers embarking on the new research:

The Parkinson’s Institute will examine risks associated with pesticides and heavy metals. It will also investigate the possible protective effects of tobacco and caffeine. Other avenues of exploration will be the underlying mechanisms of dopamine cell death, and genetically determined susceptibility traits for PD.

Emory University will develop new cellular and animal models to study gene-environment interactions in the development of PD. Scientists there will focus on how pesticides interact with the proteins that package dopamine within nerves. Another area of investigation will be the cellular machinery that degrades abnormal proteins.

UCLA will concentrate on variations in genes that regulate dopamine levels within neurons. They will seek to learn whether such variations play a role in the increased risk of PD associated with pesticides and will utilize several model systems as well as human cells. Scientists there will obtain DNA samples from two large California studies of PD.

Participating in the announcement of the new initiative was Joan Samuelson, founder and president of the Parkinson’s Action Network. “We are filled with hope and gratitude by this endeavor,” she said. “The environmental link provides major clues for unraveling Parkinson’s remaining mysteries.” The cure will be accelerated by this tremendous commitment of funding and focused effort, which will translate into less suffering for the many Americans living with PD.

J. William Langston, M.D. is president of the Parkinson’s Institute; J. Timothy Greenamyre, M.D., Ph.D., heads the Emory Collaborative Center for PD Environmental Research; and Marie-Francoise Chesselet, M.D., Ph.D., runs the Center for Gene-Environment Studies in PD at UCLA.