"Thus, E-4 appears as a risk factor for both heart disease and Alzheimer's disease, two major causes of mortality and morbidity at advanced ages, " Francois Schachter and his colleagues at the Center for the Study of Human Polymorphisms, a genetic-research center in Paris, conclude in a report.
"This is the first time anyone has shown that a single parkin mutation can lower the age of onset, " said Dr James Gusella, study leader and director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Human GeneticResearch.
Dr. Green is a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and associate director for research at the Partners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine.
Jon Entine is director of the Genetic Literacy Project and senior research fellow at STATS and the Center for Health and Risk Communications at George Mason University.