Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson's Disease and the Appendix (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Scientists have found further evidence that the gut, or more specifically the appendix, might play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease. The international team of scientists reviewed two datasets, including a large registry from Sweden, and found that removal of the appendix was associated with a decreased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. They also found that the human appendix contains clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein in a form associated with the disease. There's more work to be done, and the authors are not advocating that people preemptively remove their appendixes, but they hope that the research could provide a pathway towards treatment.

The study found that of the 1,144,745 Swedes who did not have appendectomies, 1,608 had Parkinson's, but of the 551,003 who had, only 644 had Parkinson's. This is amounts to a 16.9% decrease in the odds of acquiring the disease -- but in absolutes, that's the difference between an 0.14 percent chance of acquiring the disease for those who hadn't gotten their appendix removed versus an 0.11 percent chance for those who had. The effect was also stronger in those living in rural areas, according to the study published today in Science Translational Medicine. The researchers also found that for those who had appendectomies at least 30 years before developing Parkinson's, the procedure was associated with a 3.6-year delay in disease onset. The appendix samples contained alpha-synuclein proteins and shortened and mis-folded alpha-synucleins like the ones found in people with Parkinson's disease. Professor Viviane Labrie from the Cancer of Neurodegenerative Science at the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan suggests that the alpha-synucleins "can travel up the nerve that connects the G.I. tract to the brain." She added: "If it were to enter the brain, it can seed and spread from there and have neurotoxic effects that could eventually lead to Parkinson's disease."

Comments

Re:So much for Intelligent Design

[Anonymous Coward]

So the purpose of the appendix is to increase your risk of Parkinson's Disease? I'm not convinced.

Re: So much for Intelligent Design

[kartaron]

It may not be intelligent but it is common enough that there is an official term for it. Manufactured obsolescence.

"a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete after a certain period of time."

Alzheimers, ulcers and appendix, oh my

[goombah99]

So adter decades and decades of work people figured out Ulcers were bacterial not a defect in proteins coating the stomach walls.. Very recently it came to light that Alzheimers may be a viral or bacterial infection and the amyloid plaques actually are a defense mechanism. WHich explains why all the anti-amaloid drugs failed.

Amaloids come from a kind of protein misfolding.

Now they are attributing parkinsons to misfolded protein.

This study is interesting because we now suspect the appendix's purpose is to be a place where gut bacteria can go dormant and wait to re-seed the gut to maintain diversity. In the age of antibiotics and the rise of c. Difficile the appendix reseed may have become more important. THose infections are now treated with fecal transplants.

So appexicies harbor "good" bacteria. Perhaps the misfolded proteins their are their to keep them alive and dormant or to knock down the infection by bad bacteria (appendicitis). Perhaps it is the bacteria migrating to the brain that is brining along the misfolded proteins.

Just saying this sounds like "here we go again" when it comes to blaming the proteins for a bacterial problem. But maybe they are right. THe thing is, and the clue to the other two cases,was asking why didn't those bad proteins get evolved away. The appendix is not only in other species but it has been independently evolved in multiple species. It's there for some damn good reason and so are the proteins screted there.