A $3million study has been launched to answer some of the key unknown factors that persist around Parkinson’s disease.
The five-year project, known as ENIGMA-PD, will analyse brain imaging, genetics, and clinical data in one of the world’s largest studies of the disease.
It will unite researchers and data from 20 countries to address some of the main questions around the condition. The project will be led by the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (USC Stevens INI).
“This new grant will tackle some of the major puzzles about how PD progresses in the brain, and how treatment can protect against those changes,” said Dr Paul M. Thompson, principal investigator of the new initiative and associate director of the USC Stevens INI.
The researchers have already conducted one of the largest internationally coordinated analyses of Parkinson’s brain imaging data.
They studied structural differences between 1,182 healthy brains and 2,357 affected by Parkinson’s, identifying a characteristic pattern of tissue damage that began in the brain’s temporal lobes and spreads throughout the cortex.
Those findings challenge the conventional wisdom about Parkinson’s, which holds that deeper regions of the brain are damaged first and may hint at multiple Parkinson’s subtypes with different courses and treatments.
ENIGMA-PD will study whether treatments, including drugs such as L-Dopa and surgical therapies such as Deep Brain Stimulation, can slow down this progression of brain tissue loss and clinical decline.
Researchers will also investigate genetic factors that contribute to Parkinson’s risk, with a particular focus on how different genes increase the risk of developing the condition in individuals with European versus Asian ancestry.
“What’s unique about this project is that it engages experts from across the globe, which will be crucial for understanding how Parkinson’s risk and progression may differ depending on a person’s genetic background,” said Dr Thompson, who is also a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, psychiatry and the behavioural sciences, radiology and engineering at the Keck School of Medicine.
ENIGMA-PD builds on the success of the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium, which unites neuroimaging researchers in 45 countries to study a variety brain diseases and processes.
Founded in 2009, the ENIGMA network has conducted some of the world’s largest neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, epilepsy, and other conditions affecting the brain.
The project adds to the INI’s ongoing work on PD, which began in 2010 with the launch of the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). The institute stores all the clinical, genetic and imaging data for more than 1,400 individuals in the PPMI study, which is sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
