UAB Researchers Seek ‘Missing Link’ In Parkinson’s Disease

By Bob Shepard

There is a missing link between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease, scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham speculate, and armed with a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, they intend to find it.

Parkinson’s disease, which affects nearly 1 million Americans and 10 million people worldwide, occurs when dopamine-producing neurons in the brain are damaged or die. The loss of dopamine leads to tremors, stiffness and trouble walking and balancing. There is currently no preventive treatment, or a cure. In most cases, the damage has been accumulating for decades before symptoms appear. But what if it were possible to get an early warning about trouble in the brain based on turmoil in the gut? Or, better yet, what if some simple tweaks to intestinal bacteria — the gut microbiome — could interrupt Parkinson’s progression in the first place?

The grant will allow UAB researchers to launch a major investigation into the role of the gut microbiome in Parkinson’s disease. The gut microbiome refers to the 100 trillion or so bacteria and other microbes that live in the human intestines. Their combined DNA is 100 times larger than the human genome, says Haydeh Payami, Ph.D., professor in the UAB School of Medicine Department of Neurology and John T. and Juanelle D. Strain Endowed Chair, who is the principal investigator for the study.

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