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Researchers have found a molecule that causes the nerve cell death in the brain that sparks the condition – and hope they can soon stop it in its tracks. The discovery was described as a "significant step forward" in the battle against the degenerative disease that affects 120,000 people in the UK – or one in 500 of the population – with 10,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Parkinson's is a movement disorder characterised by uncontrollable shaking and loss of co-ordination of muscles. In the brain it is characterised by a devastating loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine and enable smooth control of the body. A person with Parkinson's will only develop symptoms once around 80 per cent of these cells are lost, so they may have had the condition for some time before problems come to attention. Now researchers have found the molecule responsible for the death of nerve cells and believe they can produce drugs that could block its action. Using the common fruit fly, researchers showed the gene variant results in impaired activity of chemicals which fine-tune protein production in cells. Prof Bingwei Lu, of Stanford University, California, said: "MicroRNA, whose role in the body has only recently begun to be figured out, has been implicated in cancer, cardiac dysfunction and faulty immune response. "But this is the first time it has been identified as a key player in a neurodegenerative disease." Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition resulting in tremor, difficulty in moving and loss of balance that's usually diagnosed after the age of 60 – although one in twenty sufferers will be under forty. The new findings published in Nature show the mutation trips up normal activity leading to the overproduction of at least two proteins that can cause brain cells to die. Prof Lu and colleagues noticed laboratory flies with the gene variant had high levels of these proteins after developing brain damage associated with Parkinson's. And toning down the levels of these two proteins prevented the death of dopamine nerve cells in the flies. Prof Lu said: "The flies no longer got symptoms of Parkinson's. This alone has immediate therapeutic implications. "Many pharmaceutical companies are already making compounds that act on these two proteins, which in previous studies have been shown to be associated with cancer. "It may be possible to take these compounds off the shelf or quickly adapt them for use in non-cancer indications such as Parkinson's." Currently available drugs for Parkinson's disease temporarily alleviate its symptoms but can have undesirable side effects, and they don't prevent dopamine cells from dying. Prof Lu said that testing on mammals could now begin. "The clinical impact of our findings may be five to 10 years down the road," he said. "But their impact on our understanding of the disease process is immediate." The new study was welcomed by Parkinson's charities. Dr Kieran Breen, director of research at Parkinson's UK, said: "This breakthrough represents a significant step forward towards developing treatments that will actually stop the process of nerve cell death – something no current treatments can do." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn