October 9, 1998

The MGH is one of three institutions nationwide to be designated by the National Institutes of Health as a center for Parkinson's disease research and care.

The MGH was selected, along with Emory University in Atlanta and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, from among 22 institutions that applied. The MGH/MIT Parkinson's Disease Research Center will receive $1.4 million a year for five years. Last year, Congress authorized additional funding for the Parkinson's centers in honor of Rep. Morris Udall, a 30-year congressman from Arizona who has been debilitated by the disease.

MGH Neurology researchers Brad Hyman, MD, PhD; Xandra Breakefield, PhD; and John B. Penney, MD, will lead individual research projects, and John Growdon, MD, of MGH Neurology will lead clinical research. The MGH is collaborating with MIT, BWH and the University of Minnesota.

"It's an honor to have been one of the institutions selected to get this," says Penney, the center's director. "I hope our research will find the ultimate cause of Parkinson's disease."

In addition to conducting Parkinson's research, the center will train young researchers and physicians studying movement disorders at the MGH and BWH. A database also will be set up to track Parkinson's patients at both hospitals.

Parkinson's is caused by damage to a part of the brain that helps regulate movement. The disease generally starts after age 60 with tremors in the hands and gradually spreads, causing stiffness, slow movement and loss of balance.

The disease is treated with drugs that mimic dopamine, a chemical that conducts signals in the brain. The drugs, however, become less effective with time, can cause disabling side effects and do not stop deterioration of nerve cells. If researchers could find the underlying cause of the disease, they could prevent it from progressing, Penney says.

MGH researchers already have some leads. They know that people with Parkinson's tend to have excessive accumulation of a normal brain protein called alpha synuclein.

"Something goes wrong with alpha synuclein to cause Parkinson's disease in most people. We don't know what that something is yet," Penney says.

"The ultimate goal is to find out what goes wrong that causes the disease."