A virus that has long been thought to be harmless can actually play a role Parkinson’s disease, Conditions that affect more than 1 million Americans.
Scientists in Northwestern medicine have discovered human pegiris (HPGV) in the brain and spinal fluid of people with Parkinson’s disease, but not in people without illness. The results challenge decades of assumptions about the virus.
“HPGV is a common, symptomatic infectious disease that was previously unknown to frequently infect the brain,” Dr. Igor Kolarnik, chief of neuroinfectious diseases in the northwestern region, said in a press release.
“We were surprised to find it in the brains of Parkinson’s patients with such high frequency, not in control.”
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The findings were published in JCI Insight magazine.
The researchers looked at 10 Parkinson’s disease patients and 14 postmortem brain tissues who died of other causes. The virus appeared in five of the 10 Parkinson’s brains and was not in any of the 14 controls.
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It also appears in spinal fluid samples, suggesting that the virus may be active. Nervous system. Patients carrying HPGV showed more advanced brain changes that were linked to Parkinson’s disease, including protein accumulation and changes in brain chemistry.
The team didn’t stop with brain tissue. Using blood samples from more than 1,000 participants in the project led by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, researchers saw the same immune system changes associated with the virus.
Even more prominent: patients with Parkinson’s disease-related mutations in the LRRK2 gene responded to HPGVs different from those without the mutation.
“This suggests that it may be an environmental factor that interacts with the body in ways that we had not noticed before,” Coralnik said.
“It can affect how Parkinson’s disease develops, especially in certain people. Genetic background. ”
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Parkinson’s disease is the second most common brain disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. A small number of cases have been inherited, but most patients have no family history and the cause remains unknown.
If HPGV really plays a role, it may help explain why some people develop Parkinson’s disease, but others aren’t. It also opens the door to new therapies targeting the virus and the immune system.
“This study detected traces of HPGV more frequently in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease than in controls. This increases the likelihood of a link between viral exposure and Parkinson’s disease, but it’s too early to say. virus Dr. Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurologist and associate professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.
Salinas, who was not involved in this study, said that much larger and long-term research is needed to determine whether this association has actual clinical significance.
“At this point, people should know that this is early research and not a reason to worry. There is still no overwhelming evidence that this virus causes Parkinson’s disease, just as how work with the herpes virus in Alzheimer’s suggests possible links.”
Approximately 90,000 Americans are diagnosed each year, according to the Parkinsons Foundation. That number is expected to reach 1.2 million by 2030.
The Northwestern team plans to expand its research to see how often HPGV is seen in people with Parkinson’s disease and healthy controls, and whether other viruses are involved.
“For viruses that were considered harmless, these findings suggest that they could have a significant impact on the context of Parkinson’s disease,” Coralnik said.
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“We also aim to understand how viruses and genes interact, insights that reveal how Parkinson’s disease begins and helps guide future treatments.”
