Study Rationale:
We now know that many cases of Parkinson’s disease are caused by exposure to harmful chemicals and pesticides in the environment. However, it is paradoxical that even though many Parkinson’s-associated chemicals have been banned in EU for >20 years, the increase in number of individuals with Parkinson’s is higher in Europe than in USA. In this project, we search for chemicals in the environment which may be causing Parkinson’s in humans without our knowledge. For instance, we screen the urine from people with Parkinson’s for hundreds of environmental chemicals, and we test these chemicals in animal models of Parkinson’s Disease.
Hypothesis:
We want to understand why many people still get Parkinson’s, even in countries where we thought we removed some of the worst Parkinson’s-causing chemicals. Perhaps there are other toxic chemicals out there which we still haven’t discovered, and which we want to remove from the environment
Study Design:
We will perform systematic screening of environmental chemicals in a stem cell-based model of Parkinson’s and we will select the worst chemicals for testing in preclinical models. With a team of environmental chemists, we also search for novel Parkinson’s-associated toxicants by screening the urine of newly diagnosed individuals with Parkinson’s using novel technologies. Finally, we make use of data-rich Danish registers to identify possible links between the life-long chemical exposure of each individual, and their risk of receiving a Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Impact on Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s disease:
A main aim of our project is to provide data which can influence policy making on the regulation of environmental chemicals so fewer people will get Parkinson’s in the future.
Next Steps for Development:
Political regulation on the use of certain harmful chemicals is likely to decrease the incidence of Parkinson’s. With our data, we will approach political and regulatory institutions in Europe and USA to convince them of the risks that certain environmental chemicals are posing to both our younger and older generations.