Identifying the risk factors of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease can cause slowed movement, muscle stiffness and uncontrollable movements like shaking limbs in patients.

A large-scale study has found genes in human chromosomes associated with the neurodegenerative disease that are common across people of different ancestries, shedding new light on the condition and its potential treatments.

The research, co-led by Nanyang Asst Prof Foo Jia Nee from NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, analysed the genetic data of nearly 50,000 patients with Parkinson’s disease, close to 19,000 individuals with a parent who has the disease and 2.4 million people who do not have the disease.

Unlike previous studies that focused on single populations, especially European patients, the researchers looked at data across four population groups: people of African, East Asian, European and Latin American descent.

The analysis found 78 specific spots on human chromosomes that contain genetic sequences linked to Parkinson’s disease. Of these, 12 locations had not been identified before.

After comparing the results with publicly available data, the researchers identified 25 potential genes in four of the novel locations that may play a role in the development of the disease. Of these genes, several are implicated in the body’s immune and inflammation responses.

The researchers said that the results lay the groundwork for future efforts to identify additional genetic sequences linked to Parkinson’s disease in non-European patients.

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Details of the study can be found in “Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of Parkinson’s disease”, published in Nature Genetics (2023), DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01584-8.

The article appeared first in NTU's research & innovation magazine Pushing Frontiers (issue #24, October 2024).