Camille and Charlie -
I'd like to add to what Charlie said about the inheritability of PD:
Dr. Jean Hubble, a neurologist and epidemiologist who has spent years
studying just that, spoke to our support group when she was still at the
University of Kansas. Basically, she said the same thing Charlie said: that
they aren't certain about whether PD is inherited.
However, at the time Sr. Hubble spoke (about two years ago), she said
the evidence so far was leading them to believe that PD requires two factors
to develop: First, one inherits a susceptibility to PD from a gene on the
mitochondrial DNA (i.e., from the mother, as I understand it); then, one must
also sustain an "insult" to the system, such as exposure to a toxin (or
perhaps traumatic injury as in the case of Ali?).
Researchers, as you know, are continuing to study this - with rapid
advances in gene mapping, I hope one day soon we'll hear that they've
identified a gene that is responsible for the tendency to develop PD. Duke
University, I've heard, is currently studying familial PD. We have a friend
who developed PD about age 40, as did two of her sisters (and there are
younger family members who may yet develop it). Their mother, she was told,
was the only living mother of three adult PD sufferers in the US. Duke Univ.
researchers are very interested in studying the mother's DNA, along with that
of all the siblings.
I have a guess, and that is that they'll find the same thing they've
found for breast cancer and some other diseases: that there is PD gene that,
if inherited, can result in development of PD, usually at a younger age, and
that people with that gene run a higher risk of developing PD than those
without it.
I'm hopeful that there'll be some answers some day soon. All of us have
family members who worry about their susceptibility to PD. Thought this
information from Dr. Hubble, though a bit dated, would be of interest to you.
Margie
