"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.