Medical College of Wisconsin: Parkinson's gene linked to lung cancer

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) announced on Thursday, January 29th that they have identified a gene that is associated with lung cancer.

Through whole exome sequencing, researchers, in collaboration with other colleagues of the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium (GELCC), identified a link between a mutation in PARK2, a gene associated with early-onset Parkinson’s disease, and familial lung cancer.

The researchers sequenced the exomes (protein coding region of the genome) of individuals from a family with multiple cases of lung cancer. They then studied the PARK2 gene in additional families affected by lung cancer.

Ming You, MD, PhD, the Joseph F. Heil Jr. Professor of Oncogenesis at MCW and Director of the MCW Cancer Center was quoted in a news release as saying, "These results implicate this specific mutation as a genetic susceptibility factor for lung cancer, and provide an additional rationale for further investigations of this gene and this mutation for evaluation of the possibility of developing targeted therapies against lung cancer in individuals with PARK2 variants."

The findings of this research are published in American Journal of Human Genetics.