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STUDY SUGGESTS PARKINSON'S DISEASE
MAY BE MATERNALLY INHERITED

This study complements biochemical data published earlier this year. 


	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 11 --The first clinical evidence
that Parkinson's disease could be inherited through mutations of
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been reported by researchers at the
University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in the February issue of
the Annals of Neurology. The U.Va. team found a preponderance of
apparent maternal transmission in patients with familial Parkinson'
disease.
	"This new finding represents a critical link between previous
biochemical studies conducted at U.Va. and the clinical genetics of
Parkinson's,"said Dr. Frederick Wooten, principal investigator of the
study and chairman of the neurology department at U.Va. 
	"The next step is to prove directly that the disease is due to
a mutation in mitochondrial DNA. This will necessitate the laborious
sequencing of mitochondrial DNA in patients with Parkinson+s disease
to identify key mutations that we think are likely to exist."
	The U.Va. team studied 265 consecutive patients who came to
U.Va. for care of their Parkinson+s. Complete family histories of each
patient were taken and entered into a clinical data base. Whenever
possible, the diagnosis of Parkinson's in an affected relative was
confirmed by examining the relative, consulting by phone with the
relative's physician and/or examining the relative's medical records. 
	The data were evaluated statistically to compare gender
proportions and to test differences in age at the disease+s onset
among patients, parents and siblings.
	Researchers in the year-long study found a preponderance of
maternal inheritance in families where a patient had both an affected
parent and an affected sibling.
	* Thirty-two of the 265 patients with Parkinson's had a parent
with Parkinson's.
	* Eighteen of the affected parents were women and 14 of the
affected parents were men.
	* Thirteen of the patients with Parkinson's had one or more
affected siblings.
	* Most importantly, five patients had both an affected parent
and at least one affected sibling. In each of the five cases, the
affected parent was the mother.
	A secondary finding in the study suggests that when there is
an affected mother and an affected child, the onset of the disease in
the child is at an earlier age than it was in the mother. This
phenomenon is called anticipation.
	According to Wooten, the fact that anticipation may be
occurring is consistent with inheritance patterns in other diseases
known to be transmitted by mutations in mitochondrial DNA.  The U.Va.
study supports an increasing body of evidence suggesting both a
genetic basis for and genetic anticipation in at least some cases of
Parkinson's disease. 
	Further, it serves to focus attention on the likelihood that
at least some forms of Parkinson's are inherited through mutations in
mitochondrial DNA, he said.
This study complements biochemical data published earlier this year
(Russell H. Swerdlow, "Origin and Functional Consequences of the
Complex I Defect in Parkinson's Disease,"Annals of Neurology, Vol. 40,
No. 4, October 1996) by a U.Va./MitoKor team that identified a
specific genetic mutation in mitochondria that may cause Parkinson's.
###
February 11, 1997