Gom Mirian
Relief is underway for people of African descent as a team of researchers which boasts of several Nigerians, Global Parkinson’s Genetics Programme (GP2), has identified a new genetic variant that increases their risk of Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
This breakthrough research, carried out by the Nigeria Parkinson Disease Research (NPDR) network, the International Parkinson’s Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC)-Africa, University College London, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States and 23andMe, has been lauded for its potential to revolutionise PD diagnosis and treatment strategies.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological condition that worsens over time and mostly impairs movement control. In patients of this disease, dopaminergic neurons, a specific type of brain cells, are gradually lost in the substantia nigra, a region of the brain, and symptoms such as tremors, painful muscular contractions, trouble speaking, and difficulty walking result. Although there is no cure for the condition and it only becomes worse with time, therapy and medications might lessen symptoms.
According to an article posted on GP2’s official website, scientists discovered that those with a single copy of the gene had a 1.5 times higher risk of getting Parkinson’s disease than people without any copies, while those carrying two copies are approximately 3.5 times more susceptible. The study included genetic information from 196,430 persons without Parkinson’s disease and over 1,488 people with the condition as part of a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS).
The researchers further collected DNA samples and analysed genetic data from individuals primarily from Nigeria and four sites across the United States. These data were combined with de-identified genetic and phenotypic data from 195,587 people of African American or Afro-Caribbean descent who consented to participate in 23andMe research, which found a significant association between Parkinson’s disease risk and the newly identified variant of the GBA1 gene.
The National Institutes of Health, however, noted that although further investigation is necessary to comprehend the role of environmental and other factors in these populations.
The director of the NIH Intramural Centre for Alzheimer’s Related Dementias (CARD), Andrew Singleton, said to effectively treat Parkinson’s and truly any disease, there is a need to study diverse populations to fully understand what the drivers and risk factors are for these disorders.
Mr Singleton said these results support the idea that the genetic basis for a common disease can differ by ancestry, and understanding these differences may provide new insights into the biology of Parkinson’s disease.
Sara Bandrés-Ciga, a staff scientist at NIH CARD, remarked, “We were completely astonished. The first analysis’s objective was to assist in educating GP2 researchers in Nigeria and other countries on how to analyse GWAS data.”
She added that the GBA1 variant had a significant association, while others did not suggest that it is strongly tied to Parkinson’s disease in this population.
