Is Parkinson's disease passed on through genetics?

     Parkinson's disease is a condition that affects the brain, specifically the areas that contribute to controlling movement and balance. It involves tremors and muscle rigidity when worsening neurological changes. It can even increase depression and dementia. While the exact cause of the disease is unknown, it is known that genetics affects the development of the disease. They also have discovered how mutations in some genes can be passed down through generations and may lead to an increased risk of Parkinson's disease.
      Some genes appear to influence the ability of the brain to break down proteins that are present in neurons where dopamine is produced, and Parkinson's disease causes a decrease of dopamine in the brain. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, genes that are associated with Parkinson's disease include: SNCA (PARK1), UCHL1 (PARK5), LRRK2 (PARK8), and PARK3. There are also recessive genes that cause an increased risk of Parkinson's disease. There genes include: PARK2 (PARK2), PARK7 (PARK7), PINK1 (PARK6), DJ-1, and Parkin. If someone wishes they can talk to a doctor or genetic counselor about genetic testing and if it is a good choice for them is the disease runs in the family. Genetic testing exists for the PINK1, PARK7, SNCA, and LRRK genes, which may influence Parkinson's disease. 

     Some common risk factors of Parkinson's Disease are age, usually occurs in people 50 or older, being male, family history, if it runs in the family or they have the gene, history of exposure to toxins, and history of head trauma. Some early signs of the disease are as follows: problems with balance, lack of arm swing when walking, problems creating facial expressions, speech problems such as slurring words, and unexplained muscle stiffness.
      As of now doctors have no prevention for Parkinson's disease. However some studies have shown that exercise can reduce the affects of it. As for the outlook of the disease, one study showed that the presence of one of the six known gene mutations is detected in only 3 to 5 percent of people who develop Parkinson's disease without a family history. Therefore there are many other factors that may contribute to its development. 
     In my opinion, having the resources to even contribute to genetic testing makes researchers a step closer to hopefully finding a prevention for the disease. Since they know what the risk factors are, early symptoms, and the dominant and recessive genes associated with the disease they can now work on fixing the mutations in the genes that cause Parkinson's. Many people suffer from it and it is hard watching someone and for the person themselves to lose control over their own body. It is also painful for them. Hopefully these discoveries can bring science a step closer to finding out more about curing the disease and or stopping the development. 

Link to Article: 
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320560.php
Link to more information: 
https://www.genome.gov/10001217/learning-about-parkinsons-disease/

23andMe Can Predict Your Health Risks

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-23andme-reports-20170414-htmlstory.html

The FDA recently approved the website 23andMe to use people's genetic analysis to provide them with possible health risks that are "detected" in their genome. The FDA said that 23andMe "provided sufficient data to show that the tests are accurate". This means that they can identify SNPs that correlate with health risks with reproducible results. These new reports cost the user $199 compared to the standard ancestry report that is $99. These new tests check for 10 diseases including late on-set Alzheimer's, celiac disease, Parkinson's, and a few others. They use the participant's saliva to look for genetic mutations that are associated with these diseases. The test does not determine a person's overall risk for getting the disease, just their genetic risk. This means that a person who shows no risk could get the disease and one that shows a great amount of genetic risk could not get the disease. I think that this testing is not a good idea because it is not accurate. 23andMe only testing a few populations and ethnic groups, so the genes they are looking for have only been observed in small sample. Although the company states that they inform their customers before and after the testing not to take the results too seriously, people are bound to worry about their results, especially in terms of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. I think especially after we looked at the 23andMe reports in class, that this kind of testing can only need to negative outcomes. If a person wants to know their genetic risk for specific diseases, they should go to genetic counseling, not to the internet.

A Cure for Parkinson's Disease

A study  focusing on cell programming was recently published. One of the researchers' goals were to find a cure for Parkinson by developing a way of transforming non-neuronal brain cells into dopamine-producing brain cells. People suffering from Parkinson's disease has damaged dopamine-producing cells, thus affecting the transmission of signals accounting for movement and coordination leading to impaired balance. Cell transplantation serves as one of the proposed strategies in curing Parkinson's disease, however, researchers faced difficulties in obtaining fetal tissues. Another researcher focused on cell programming which converts glial cells into dopamine cells. The researchers identified but did not specify the four genes that converted glial cells into cells that resembles the dopamine-producing cells. 

This study brings hope to people suffering from Parkinson's disease. Cell programming - combining the four genes identified by the researchers with transcription factors opens doors to the development of cure to Parkinson's disease; however, one downfall is the difficulty in controlling the transmission of dopamine due to its location in the brain. 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316896.php

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-cell-therapy-offers-hope-for-parkinsons-patients/

A positive outlook for Parkinson's Disease

Researchers have been working on ways cure Parkinson's for years. Recently, a study was published that researchers have transformed non-neuronal brain cells into brain cells that can create and produce dopamine.  Dopamine is important for movement and coordination of the body, and in Parkinson's, dopamine cells become damage and even destroyed. The process f converting the cells is called cell reprograming,  changing glial cells into the dopamine cells.  Within the cell reprogramming, the researchers combined genes, four to be exact, that help create the dopamine cells with the transcription factors. The results have have been remarkably great, and show great hope for the future. As a person that knows someone with Parkinson's disease, I think this article does give great hope to reader that know about Parkinson's. Their testing seemed realistic and had great outcomes, so I hope more research is done and a cure can be found sooner than later!

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