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| WHAT is the PEG Study? |
| A
five-year study of the links between Parkinson's disease (PD), Environment,
and Genes.
A collaboration between the
Funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the PEG Study is the first large federally funded PD study to focus on rural populations. |
| WHY are we studying PD in rural counties? |
For
almost 20 years now researchers have repeatedly reported that Parkinson's
disease (PD) is more common in rural than urban populations, but
most PD studies in the US have been conducted in Metropolitan areas.
Recently, animal and human tissue studies suggested that some pesticides
are able to kill brain cells that produce dopamine, the substance
that Parkinson's patient's brains lack. The loss of almost all dopamine
producing brain cells causes PD. Researchers trying to identify
possible causes of PD studied agricultural chemicals and well-water
contamination but to date this research has been far from conclusive.
|
| HOW does the body get rid of toxins we encounter in our environment? |
Advances
in molecular biology taught us that the human body is equipped with
proteins (enzymes) capable of ridding our body from most environmental
substances, natural as well as man-made ones. Thus, our body may
be able to quickly eliminate certain environmental substances. If
certain enzymes are working more slowly, however, substances may
accumulate and be toxic. Similar mechanisms are responsible for
the fact that some people are especially sensitivity to prescription
drugs: physicians and patients have known for a long time that the
same dose of medication does not have the same effect on every patient.
Some people may experience terrible side effects and need to lower
their dose while others may tolerate the medication well and even
may need higher doses. |
| HOW do genes fit into this picture? |
| While
everybody has enzymes that get rid of chemicals in our body, our
genetic code determines how these proteins exactly look like and
how well they function, just like our genes cause every human to
look different from another one although we are all human. Thus,
depending on our inheritance, these enzymes may work slightly faster
or slower in one person than in another, like different size engines
in cars. |
| It is important to note that these genes and enzymes will not cause disease unless a person is exposed to a toxic substance through water, air or food. This mechanism is what epidemiologists call a gene-environment interaction. |
UCLA
has recently established a Center for Brain Genetics providing us
with knowledgeable experts and state-of the art technology for genetic
and gene-environment interaction research. |
| WHAT are we trying to do? |
To
address the question whether some environmental substances may cause
PD in susceptible individuals, the NIH has funded our UCLA research
team to conduct an epidemiologic case-control study of PD patients
in three rural Californian counties. Over a four-year period, we
expect to collect 400 Parkinson's disease cases referred to us by
local neurologists, Parkinson's support groups or through self-referral.
|
For
each case, we will select a control from the general population
and - if possible - a sibling control. Interviews will be conducted
with all study subjects to find out where each person worked and
lived and what toxins they may have been exposed to throughout their
lives. |
We
hope that all of these pieces of information along with genetic
analyses of collected blood will allow us to put the PD puzzle together.
|
| We are currently enrolling study subjects!! |
UCLA IRB # 98-05-030-21
Expiration date: