Singapore, 01 October, 2009 – Researchers at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) have recently developed a novel fly model of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that holds promise to speed up drug discovery efforts for the debilitating disorder. PD is a progressive and degenerative neurological disease for which there is currently no cure. The exact cause of the disease remains unknown, although a significant number of PD patients harbor a mutation in a gene known as "LRRK2". Notably, Google co-founder Sergie Brin reportedly carries a LRRK2 mutation that has been found in more than 20 populations worldwide.

NNI has previously contributed to the discovery of another LRRK2 variant that is almost exclusive to the Chinese and Japanese populations. An individual with this "Asian" gene variant has a 2 to 3 times higher risk of developing PD. NNI has now brought this clinical data to the laboratory and created the first fruit fly model of this variant and showed that with aging, populations of brain cells that are similar to those affected in human PD, start to die gradually in the fly’s brain. Associated with this, older mutant flies also exhibit difficulty in their movements. These features displayed by the fly PD model thus bear an uncanny resemblance to the human condition. Studying the novel model could potentially help unlock some mysteries that surrounds brain cell death in PD patients.

The study, led by Associate Professor Lim Kah Leong, senior research scientist at NNI-TTSH campus, together with Associate Professor Tan Eng King, senior consultant neurologist at NNI-SGH campus, and the NNI Translational Clinical Research Programme team members, was published in September’s issue of Journal of Neuroscience, a leading international neuroscience journal.

"If we could be more modest about our hierarchy, evolutionary or otherwise, there is a great deal that we could learn from our so-called humble counterparts" commented Prof Lim. He added, "One major advantage of the fruit flies is their low cost, small size and short lifespan, which makes them ideal candidates for drug screening. In fact, we have already begun our drug screening efforts with these fly models of PD and our pilot study has been very encouraging. We are currently in discussion with some drug companies to see how we could speed up the drug discovery effort." Agreeing, Prof Tan said, "We have brought our initial clinical discovery to the laboratory very swiftly and now in the process of translating findings from our bench research back to the benefit of our patients. The fruit fly model is one of the many approaches that we have taken within our programme, and hopefully it will bear us many fruits."

Both Prof Lim and Prof Tan are also faculty members at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. Other investigators who have contributed to this study include Ng Chee-Hoe, Cherlyn Koh and the late Shaun Mok from the NNI, Yu Fengwei from Temasek Life Science Laboratories. This study is supported by Singhealth Foundation and the Singapore Millennium Foundation.

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