맹장, 파킨슨병의 잠재적인 출발점

파킨슨병의 원인에 대한 연구이다. 약간 당황스럽게도 맹장이 파킨슨병의 잠재적인 출발점으로 확인된다는 논문이 발표되었다. 몇몇 외국 과학사이트에서 동시에 이슈로 올라오고 있다.

맹장이 파킨슨병의 잠재적인 출발점으로 확인되다

이번 연구에 의하면 맹장은 질병과 연관된 단백질의 저장고 역할을 하며 맹장 절제술은 파킨슨병 발병 위험을 줄여준다고 한다. 인생의 초기에 맹장을 제거하면 파킨슨 병에 걸릴 위험을 19-25%까지 감소시킨다고 한다.

출처 : ScienceDaily, Van Andel Research Institute. "Appendix identified as a potential starting point for Parkinson's disease: Appendix acts as a reservoir for disease-associated proteins; appendectomy lowers the risk of developing Parkinson's."

Summary: Removing the appendix early in life reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by 19 to 25 percent, according to the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. The findings solidify the role of the gut and immune system in the genesis of the disease, and reveal that the appendix acts as a major reservoir for abnormally folded alpha-synuclein proteins, which are closely linked to Parkinson's onset and progression.

논문 : Science Translational Medicine, Bryan A. Killinger, ... "The vermiform appendix impacts the risk of developing Parkinson's disease."

Abstract : The pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves the accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein, which has been suggested to begin in the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we determined the capacity of the appendix to modify PD risk and influence pathogenesis. In two independent epidemiological datasets, involving more than 1.6 million individuals and over 91 million person-years, we observed that removal of the appendix decades before PD onset was associated with a lower risk for PD, particularly for individuals living in rural areas, and delayed the age of PD onset. We also found that the healthy human appendix contained intraneuronal α-synuclein aggregates and an abundance of PD pathology–associated α-synuclein truncation products that are known to accumulate in Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark of PD. Lysates of human appendix tissue induced the rapid cleavage and oligomerization of full-length recombinant α-synuclein. Together, we propose that the normal human appendix contains pathogenic forms of α-synuclein that affect the risk of developing PD.