A Virus May Trigger PD?
- Stephanie Soto
- Jul 15
- 1 min read
A new study from Northwestern Medicine is showing that a virus could trigger or contribute to PD. Let's dive in.
Dr. Igor Koralnik and his team have been looking into possible environmental triggers for PD, specifically viral infections. They used a tool called "ViroFind" to identify over 500 viruses. They examined brain tissue of 10 patients who had died with PD. They also examined brain tissue of 14 people who did not die with PD. It is important to point out that this is a small sample size, which does impact the validity of the results.
They found 50% of the cases with PD had a virus called Human Pegivirus. This virus is not known to cause any disease and is a harmless bloodborne virus. They also found that those with the virus did show signs of more progressive Parkinson's and altered immune signaling.
Dr. Koralnik and his team paired with the Michael J. Fox Foundation and analyzed blood samples from more than 1,000 participants in the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative. These blood samples had similar findings to the samples from Dr. Koralnik's lab. Furthermore, they found that in people with the gene mutation LRRK2, there were altered immune response to Human Pegivirus compared to those who did not have PD.
There currently is not a test for Human Pegivirus, but this virus resembles Hepatitis C. More research is needed to further validate these results, determine testing for the virus, and treatment for the virus. They are hopeful that if these results are valid, doctors can use medication for Hepatitis C to treat the virus.
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