NPF Release
The National Parkinson Foundation Calls Emergency Meeting to Discuss Gene
Location Finding
The Chief of the Laboratory of Genetic Disease Research and Principal
Investigator for NCHGR Attend
WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 15 =96 Within 24 hours of the findings reported y the
National Institute
of Health (NIH) from the National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR)
of the discovery
of a link for a gene that could be responsible for a familial form of
Parkinson=92s disease, the National
Parkinson Foundation (NPF) called an emergency meeting of its Scientific
Advisory Board and
Centers of Excellence Directors to discuss strategies utilizing this
important finding to continue
research.
In the Foundation=92s continuing efforts to better serve Parkinson Patients
and their families,
Medical/Clinical Directors and researchers from NPF=92s 47 Centers of
Excellence worldwide arrived in
DC today to meet with Dr. Michael H. Polymeropoulous the Principal
Investigator, NCHGR and Dr.
Robert I. Nussbaum, Chief of the Laboratory of Genetic Disease Research,
NCHGR to further discuss
their findings, Doctor Polymerpoulous and Nussbaum were the lead presenters
at the NIH press
conference that announced the discovery of this gene linked with Parkinson=
=92s
disease at the National
Press Club on November 14, 1996.
The purpose of this emergency meeting was to discuss how NPF could better
serve the Parkinson
Community with this new found information which would no doubt raise concern
and cause questions
" This is no doubt both alarming and exciting news for people with
Parkinson=92s disease and their
families, and in an effort to answer the myriad of questions the Parkinson
population is bound to have,
we have drafted a list of questions we believed will be most commonly asked
regarding the findings"
stated Emilio Alonso-Mendoza Executive Director of NPF. This Q&A will be
available to anyone who
calls NPF=92s International Headquarters in Miami, FL and is currently being
mailed to everyone on the
Foundation=92s mailing list of over 200,000.
When asked how important this study was for patients with Parkinson=92s
disease, Dr. Matthias Kurth the
Associate Clinical Director for NPF stated " Finding a Genetic cause for
Parkinson=92s disease opens a
new chapter in understanding the biological mechanism(s) leading to the loss
neurons that ultimately
results in the symptoms of Parkinson=92s disease. Only through a Fundamental
understanding of these
mechanisms will a cure for Parkinson=92s disease be found.
At the conclusion of this important meeting, it was clear that the discovery
for a cure for Parkinson=92s
disease is clearly in sight, but not in the immediate future. Until the
actual gene has been identified,
researchers can not translate this new information into practical
treatments. Even after the gene is
identified its precise role in the cell=92s machinery will need to be
understood in order to develop new
therapies, and this will take time. Additional families will need to be
identified in order to confirm this
findings and apprehend the actual gene and its function. The National
Parkinson Foundation is in an
excellent position with its 47 Centers of Excellence, worldwide, to support
this next step.
For more information on The National Parkinson Foundation, or to receive
this list of prepared Q&A
regarding the gene finding, call the Foundation=92s international=
headquarters
at 1(800) 327-4545 or visit
our World Wide Web site: http://www.parkinson.org
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National Parkinson Foundation, Inc.
1501 Northwest 9th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33136
305.547.6666 - 1.800.327.4545
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http://www.parkinson.org/
