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Keep in the PINK to avoid Parkinson's Keeping fit and avoiding diabetes could also help to protect you from Parkinson's disease A team of scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have discovered a mechanism linking the development of Parkinson's disease to people who have already developed Type II Diabetes. In recent months researchers in Finland have demonstrated that your risk of developing Parkinson's is approximately doubled if you develop Type II Diabetes, while American researchers have shown that if you exercise regularly (which decreases your chance of getting diabetes) you are also half as likely to get Parkinson's, but no-one was sure why. The Heriot-Watt team, led by Professor James Timmons, Professor of Exercise Biology at the School of Life Sciences, have discovered that the biochemical changes brought about by diabetes switch off a gene called the PINK1 gene, and loss of function of this gene is a established cause of Parkinson's. The team made their discovery by comparing 200 tissue samples donated by volunteers, many of whom have been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. They found that the Diabetes patients produce less of the product of the PINK1 gene, and are thus more liable to develop Parkinson's, and that this may happen because it is the immediate neighbour of a known Diabetes gene (DDOST). Professor Timmons said, "Loss of PINK1 isn't the only cause of Parkinson's, but discovering this direct link between Diabetes and regulation of the PINK1 gene is the first example of a molecular mechanism potentially linking the two terrible illnesses, rather than just a statistical association in population studies. The next step is to find exactly how loss of PINK1 actually causes the neuronal cell death, and hence Parkinson's. "It also helps to demonstrate that, in contrast to the traditional image of whether you have a 'healthy' gene sequence or not, in fact your 'healthy' genetic sequence can 'switched off' over time, leading to the development of illness, and importantly that these changes can be caused by external influences such as lifestyle choices." The next step for the team is to understand the biochemical process which actually causes the PINK1 (and related Diabetes gene) to be switched off, in the hope that they can find ways to tackle both diseases. Meanwhile their recommendation is to make the lifestyle choices including taking regular exercise, which can help to prevent Diabetes and thereby potentially reduce your risk of developing Parkinson's. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn