Tremor, the Basque Parkinson gene

2004/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

Research began by finding that many members of the same family had Parkinson's. There are many types of Parkinson's, some of them hereditary. Now, researchers have discovered the gene that produces the hereditary variant of Park8 in four Basque families and another in the UK. In fact, the gene has been called tremor, derived from the word dardara in Basque. The mutation of this gene produces this hereditary variant of Parkinson Park8.

The research has been led by Jordi Perez-Tur, a scientist at the Biomedicine Institute of Valencia, but has had the participation of researchers from the Hospital de San Sebastián, Mendaro, Zumarraga and the USA and the UK.

The function of vibration within cells is now being studied. They want to know how this gene works when it has no mutations. And they have not clarified it, although it is believed that vibration could fulfill a function similar to protein kinase.

A significant fact: In Gipuzkoa it is estimated that between 10 and 15% of patients with Parkinson's have this variant.