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January 26, 2006
Gene causes Parkinson's in Ashkenazi Jews
Sobering news for Ashkenazi Jews who have Parkinson's in their family:
Although Parkinson's disease has not generally been regarded as genetic in origin, researchers at Yeshiva University's Einstein College of Medicine and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York have discovered a single gene that is the "major cause" of Parkinson's in Ashkenazi Jews...The mutation, called G2019S, was detected in 18.3% (22 out of 120) of the Ashkenazi Parkinson's patients, compared with only 1.3% (4 out of 317) of control patients...
The frequency of this mutation among Ashkenazi Parkinson's patients was 15-20 times higher than has been reported among patients of European ancestry in general...
It seems like Parkinson's is yet another disease that can be inherited via a single genetic defect, of which there are already more than 20."I have people in my family who suffer from Parkinson's, so this is particularly sobering for me. And it confirms what we have suspected informally for a while, that the link is genetic. It certainly appears to be in my family.It also shows, he said, that Ashkenazi Jewry began some 1,000 years ago with a few founders, and that their isolation as a community and marriage among themselves amplified the presence of defective genes that cause these diseases.
Alcibiades | 01/26/06 at 04:26 PM | Categories: Doing Jewish
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Comments
I shudder to read this. My father was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's and I am an Ashkenazi Jew. However, there is no one in his family who has ever had it. The numbers aren't overwhelming (18.3%) so perhaps there is a genetic component and an environmental trigger.
Stacey | January 27, 2006 04:18 PM
