Mayo Clinic Gene Hunter Featured in PBS Special on Parkinson's Disease

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After Dave Iverson was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease — a disorder that also afflicted his father and brother — he came to Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida and brought a film production crew. Iverson, a longtime television and radio producer, wanted to speak with Matthew Farrer, Ph.D., who leads a team of international researchers who have uncovered the genetic root of the most common familial form of the disease.

Their conversation, part of the documentary My Father, My Brother and Me, will air Feb. 3 on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations nationwide and is also available online starting Jan. 29.

In the segment of the documentary called "The Genetic Connection," Dr. Farrer talks about his lengthy hunt for genes that predispose people to the disease and how that search is leading to strategies to help prevent development of Parkinson's, the second most common neurological disorder.

"We are a lot closer than we were 10 years ago," the British-born neuroscientist says to Iverson. "The murky picture is becoming much clearer."

The segment details the 2005 discovery of a single switch — in one nucleotide out of 3 billion DNA base pairs — within a gene known as LRRK2 that clearly causes a widespread form of the disease.

"This remarkable finding has taken me around the world, with LRRK2 research going on in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Tunisia and Taiwan," says Dr. Farrer.

While familial Parkinson's disease is relatively rare, Dr. Farrer and his colleagues believe what they learn about inheritable disease will offer key insights into how most other forms of Parkinson's disease develop, how to identify people at risk before they develop symptoms, and how to, possibly, prevent the disease.

"At Mayo, our molecular neuroscience research is now focused on the genetic basis of Parkinson's disease, on the specific proteins and the molecular pathways perturbed," Dr. Farrer says. "Our model and drug development program is designed to halt disease progression, not just to ameliorate the symptoms."

The ongoing research program is backed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Pacific Alzheimer's Research Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and by pharmaceutical industry funding.

###

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.