Jack and Jeff Gernsheimer are identical twins. Jack has Parkinson’s disease, and his twin Jeff does not. Up until recently, because they have identical genomes, it would have been a mystery as to why Jack could develop Parkinson’s but not Jeff. However, with the discovery of epigenetics, scientists know that genes alone cannot explain why some people get Parkinson’s and other do not. While there are some genetic mutations linked to Parkinson’s, 90 percent of cases are “sporadic”, meaning that the disease did not run in the family. Even twins often do not develop Parkinson’s in tandem. Naturally, if genes don’t explain the development of Parkinson’s, scientists look to environment. There are several environmental factors that are known to link to the disease. People who were POW’s in WWII, for example, have a higher rate of developing Parkinson’s. But, and here’s the interesting part, Jack and Jeff have lived almost identical lives. For almost all of their lives, they have lived less than half a mile apart. Throughout their lives, they have been exposed to the same air, water, pesticides, etc. When they grew up, they built homes five minutes apart (by walk) on their father’s farm in Pennsylvania. Then, when they entered the professional life, they co-founded a design firm, working with their desks pushed up against each other.

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This anomaly, where a pair of humans exist with the same genetics and the same environment yet only one of them got sick is a research “bonanza” for scientists. All expected variables are being held constant, thus whatever is left must be deeply linked to the origins of Parkinson’s. However, there was a small difference in their lives that could provide insight into this anomaly. in 1968, Jack was drafted into the army and Jeff was not. This led to a series of unfortunate events in Jack’s life: first he served two years stateside in the military, got married, had two children, became involved in a long divorce, and suddenly his teenage son died. After this traumatic event, Jack went on to develop Parkinson’s, glaucoma, and prostate cancer, none of which Jeff has.

Jeff and Jack have been more than willing to undergo several studies in hope of finding something that could alleviate Jack’s Parkinson’s. The first study involved collecting embryonic stem cells from the twins. The benefit of stem cell cultures is that they act similarly to how they would in the body even though they are in a petri dish. The mid-brain dopaminergic neurons grown from Jack’s cells created abnormally low amounts of dopamine. Jeff’s produced normal amounts. Surprisingly, even though Jeff showed no signs of Parkinson’s, both twins had a mutation on a gene called GBA. This gene is known to be associated with Parkinson’s. As a result, both of their brain culture cells produced half the normal amount of beta-glucocerebrosidase, an enzyme linked to that gene. Instead of answering questions, this study only raised more to the fascinating case of Jeff and Jack.

I want to add a bit about how Jack’s son died, because it is unimaginably tragic and can show you just how much Jack had to face. Especially if we are considering Jack’s trauma as a contributor to his development of Parkinson’s, it is important to know the story. When Gabe, Jack’s son, was 14 in 1987, he became fascinated with the Vietnam War. Like any good father, Jack rented his son some movies on the war. One of those being The Deer Hunter, in which there is a scene where two prisoners of the Viet Cong are forced to play Russian Roulette. Gabe told his friend that if it were him, he wouldn’t just sit there. He would rather just get it over with. With that conversation, Gabe got his dad’s pistol, that he knew was hidden in the closet drawer, put one bullet in the chamber, put the gun to his head, and shot.

Jack rarely shows emotion. This “pressure cooker” way of dealing with things could explain his illness. Jeff thinks that the parkinson’s is a physical manifestation of how Jack deals with stress, rather how he doesn’t deal with stress. The connection between stress and disease is a very active research topic. And while their lives were very similar, if compared, Jack’s is by far the life with a more stressful environment. Some research might suggest that this stress differential can have a relation to Parkinson’s disease. In 2002, neuroscientists at UPitt subjected rats to stress, and they found that the stressed rats were more likely to experience damage to their dopamine-producing neurons than the non-stressed rats. This led to the term “neuroendangerment”, which means “rather than stress producing damage directly and immediately, it might increase the vulnerability of dopamine-producing cells to a subsequent insult.”

Another hypothesis as to what caused Jack’s Parkinson’s is that it could be linked to chronic inflammation.  Chronic inflammation is the mechanism by which stress can create neurodegeneration. Evidence that suggests this could be the case in Jack and Jeff is presented in their skin. Jack has psoriasis, a condition linked to chronic inflammation, and Jeff does not.

To this day, the search for what caused Jack’s Parkinson’s continues. Last year, NYSCF scientists conducted a study on the twins’ stem cells. They found a few functional differences between their cells. After finding the GBA mutation, they searched harder for other clues as to what might differentiate their brains. They screened 39,000 SNV’s, single nucleotide variants, which are instances where a single nucleotide in the human genome has been altered (either switched, deleted, or duplicated). They found 11 SNV’s, nine of which are linked to Parkinson’s disease. However, all 9 were found in both twins, meaning that this did not explain why Jack was sick and Jeff wasn’t.

Finally, they were able to uncover a relevant difference. Jack had high levels of MAO-B, which is involved in the breakdown of dopamine, whereas Jeff’s levels were close to normal.This hypothesis supposed that there exists a possible molecular mechanism by which stress could lead to neurodegeneration. What’s nice about this finding is that it could present a possible treatment for Parkinson’s. MAO-B inhibitors exist and are actually drugs currently on the market. They were given to Jack, and while it’s too soon to see the effects and to recommend them as treatment for Parkinson’s disease, it’s definitely a start.

Source: http://nautil.us/issue/21/information/did-grief-give-him-parkinsons

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