The Canadian Government is funding a 5 year study by researchers at U. Ottawa to explore whether mutations in the LLRK2 gene can result in abnormal immune system response which in turn can lead to the development of Parkinson's, Crohn's or leprosy.
The leprosy association is particularly intriguing as it's also something I've heard in Dr. Marcel Behr's talks on Crohn's (though I think he mainly focuses on the NOD2/CARD15 mutations) implicating mycobacterium in the development of the disease.
The link between the three diseases showed up in genome wide association studies (GWAS). Another interesting tidbit is that a particular mutation was detected in about 20% of Parkinson's patients of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, an ancestral group already associated with a high incidence of Crohn's.
The leprosy association is particularly intriguing as it's also something I've heard in Dr. Marcel Behr's talks on Crohn's (though I think he mainly focuses on the NOD2/CARD15 mutations) implicating mycobacterium in the development of the disease.
The link between the three diseases showed up in genome wide association studies (GWAS). Another interesting tidbit is that a particular mutation was detected in about 20% of Parkinson's patients of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, an ancestral group already associated with a high incidence of Crohn's.
