The Base Hit: Neurological Diseases and Genetic Susceptibilities to Pesticide Exposures

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and multiple sclerosis (MS) together affect an estimated tens of millions of people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.1–3 As Earth’s population ages, experts expect numbers to continue to climb.4 Like other chronic conditions, neurodegenerative diseases arise from interactions between a person’s genetic predisposition and their environment.5 But scientists have much to learn about the ways DNA affects susceptibility to toxic environmental exposures, says Ray Dorsey, a professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (UR Medicine) in New York who was not involved in the study.

In a recent paper in Environmental Health Perspectives, a team of researchers explored a computational approach to connect pesticide exposures with genetic variants associated with AD, PD, and MS.6 They investigated potential links between regional pesticide use, disease susceptibility, and human nervous system diseases. Their work found a relationship between pesticide usage and higher prevalence of AD, PD, and MS. They further found that genetic susceptibility to pesticides may contribute to this relationship.

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