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. A new study has suggested that the risk of common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may be dictated by DNA mutations which occur even before we are born. Credit Photo: Getty Royalty Free
New research from scientists in the United States has suggested that the root causes of common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's can be traced back to before birth and may be the result of errors in DNA.
These diseases are common with 5.7 million people in the US living with Alzheimer's and a further half million living with Parkinson's. Despite this, only around 1 in 20 affected patients have a family history of neurodegenerative diseases where they have inherited genetic risk factors from one or both parents.
The research published in the journal Nature Communications These causes are not accounted for by DNA.
"We are seeing increasing numbers of people affected by Alzheimer's diseases, yet we still do not understand enough about the majority of these cases. said Professor Patrick Chinnery, leader of the study from the Medical Research Council's Mitochondrial Biology Unit and the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge.
In these common neurodegenerative diseases, damaged proteins accumulate in the brain leading to the destruction of healthy brain cells and symptoms such as memory loss, loss in control of movement and personality changes. The researchers hypothesized that the brain might contain small clusters of cells. These error-riddled cells could then spread throughout the brain, eventually leading to disease later in life.
The researchers examined 173 brain tissue samples from the Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource, a biobank of brain tissue samples donated by people for research after their deaths. The samples were from 54 individual brains, 14 of which were healthy, of which had Alzheimers and which were from people with Lewy body dementia, another common type of dementia.
The team DNA sequenced 102 genes in the brain cells, including known neurodegenerative diseases, finding spontaneous mutations, i.e. which ones had had a history of conception and were not inherited from parents, in half of the tested brains, both healthy and diseased.
"These mutations are likely to occur when they are born before they are older," said Chinnery.
The researchers then used mathematical modeling to suggest that 'islands' of brain cells containing these mutations are likely to be fairly common in the general population.
"These spelling errors arise in our DNA as cells divide and could explain why so many people develop these diseases when they have no family history," said Chinnery.
Chinnery stresses that further research is needed to confirm mutations are more common in the treatment of these diseases.
"Our discovery may also explain why we have two types of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's symptoms in the brain, but these are not the same symptoms," said Chinnery.
Despite this, the researchers did not find these mutations in all of the brain samples with dementia, because they were only able to sample small areas of each brain region. They also did not look for mutations in Parkinson's with Parkinson's disease, so it is not possible for Parkinson's disease and other types of neurodegenerative disease.
In conclusion, it is too early to say whether these mutations are the cause of common neurodegenerative diseases, but this work presents a promising new theory which certainly warrants further investigation.
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. A new study has suggested that the risk of common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may be dictated by DNA mutations which occur even before we are born. Credit Photo: Getty Royalty Free
New research from scientists in the United States has suggested that the root causes of common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's can be traced back to before birth and may be the result of errors in DNA.
These diseases are common with 5.7 million people in the US living with Alzheimer's and a further half million living with Parkinson's. Despite this, only around 1 in 20 affected patients have a family history of neurodegenerative diseases where they have inherited genetic risk factors from one or both parents.
The research published in the journal Nature Communications These causes are not accounted for by DNA.
"We are seeing increasing numbers of people affected by Alzheimer's diseases, yet we still do not understand enough about the majority of these cases. said Professor Patrick Chinnery, leader of the study from the Medical Research Council's Mitochondrial Biology Unit and the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge.
In these common neurodegenerative diseases, damaged proteins accumulate in the brain leading to the destruction of healthy brain cells and symptoms such as memory loss, loss in control of movement and personality changes. The researchers hypothesized that the brain might contain small clusters of cells. These error-riddled cells could then spread throughout the brain, eventually leading to disease later in life.
The researchers examined 173 brain tissue samples from the Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource, a biobank of brain tissue samples donated by people for research after their deaths. The samples were from 54 individual brains, 14 of which were healthy, of which had Alzheimers and which were from people with Lewy body dementia, another common type of dementia.
The team DNA sequenced 102 genes in the brain cells, including known neurodegenerative diseases, finding spontaneous mutations, i.e. which ones had had a history of conception and were not inherited from parents, in half of the tested brains, both healthy and diseased.
"These mutations are likely to occur when they are born before they are older," said Chinnery.
The researchers then used mathematical modeling to suggest that 'islands' of brain cells containing these mutations are likely to be fairly common in the general population.
"These spelling errors arise in our DNA as cells divide and could explain why so many people develop these diseases when they have no family history," said Chinnery.
Chinnery stresses that further research is needed to confirm mutations are more common in the treatment of these diseases.
"Our discovery may also explain why we have two types of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's symptoms in the brain, but these are not the same symptoms," said Chinnery.
Despite this, the researchers did not find these mutations in all of the brain samples with dementia, because they were only able to sample small areas of each brain region. They also did not look for mutations in Parkinson's with Parkinson's disease, so it is not possible for Parkinson's disease and other types of neurodegenerative disease.
In conclusion, it is too early to say whether these mutations are the cause of common neurodegenerative diseases, but this work presents a promising new theory which certainly warrants further investigation.
