3/06/2006
Smoking & gene avert Parkinson's
It has long been known that smoking offers some protection against developing Parkinson's disease and now a Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher has found out part of the reason why.
Yifu Deng of QUT's School of Public Health studied the interplay between genetics, smoking and the development of Parkinson's disease with 400 people who had Parkinson's disease and 400 people without it.
He found that smokers with the gene who metabolised the cigarette smoke compounds quickly were less likely to be protected than those who metabolised the chemical compounds more slowly.
Dr Deng looked at the genetic background of individuals in each group for the presence of the CYP2D6 gene, which had previously been suggested to metabolise the chemical compounds found in cigarette smoke, in both groups.
Genetic perversity: Smoking & gene avert Parkinson's
Yifu Deng of QUT's School of Public Health studied the interplay between genetics, smoking and the development of Parkinson's disease with 400 people who had Parkinson's disease and 400 people without it.
He found that smokers with the gene who metabolised the cigarette smoke compounds quickly were less likely to be protected than those who metabolised the chemical compounds more slowly.
Dr Deng looked at the genetic background of individuals in each group for the presence of the CYP2D6 gene, which had previously been suggested to metabolise the chemical compounds found in cigarette smoke, in both groups.
Genetic perversity: Smoking & gene avert Parkinson's
