Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Investigating the Associations Between Polygenic Risk Scores, Environmental Exposure and Type II Diabetes in Parkinson’s Disease

Ugoh, Elijah Chinazor (2025) BINP51 20242
Degree Projects in Bioinformatics
Popular Abstract
Can Your Genes and Lifestyle Together Shape Your Risk of Parkinson’s Disease?

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders worldwide, yet its causes remain only partly understood. While some people inherit rare genetic mutations that directly cause PD, for most individuals, the risk is likely influenced by a complex mix of many common genetic variants and environmental or lifestyle factors.

This study set out to explore how a person’s genetic risk, measured through something called a Polygenic Risk Score (PRS), interacts with lifestyle habits like smoking, drinking coffee and tea, and being exposed to pesticides. We also looked at whether the genetic risk for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) might have any... (More)
Can Your Genes and Lifestyle Together Shape Your Risk of Parkinson’s Disease?

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders worldwide, yet its causes remain only partly understood. While some people inherit rare genetic mutations that directly cause PD, for most individuals, the risk is likely influenced by a complex mix of many common genetic variants and environmental or lifestyle factors.

This study set out to explore how a person’s genetic risk, measured through something called a Polygenic Risk Score (PRS), interacts with lifestyle habits like smoking, drinking coffee and tea, and being exposed to pesticides. We also looked at whether the genetic risk for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) might have any bearing on the risk of PD.

Using genetic data from 1,864 individuals (both with and without PD), we first calculated PRS for PD using thousands of genetic markers previously associated with the disease. We also used a separate set of PRS for T2D, derived from four large international genetic studies. Alongside this, we used detailed questionnaire data that provided insights into participants’ lifestyle habits, such as whether they smoked, drank coffee, or had been exposed to pesticides.

We discovered that people with higher PD PRS were more likely to have PD, confirming the strong role of genetics in the disease. Interestingly, lifestyle factors like smoking, caffeine intake, or pesticide exposure also had significant associations with PD, but did not significantly modify or interact with the genetic risk for PD in this study. This suggests that genetic (in the form of PRS) and environmental contributions might act more independently than synergistically.

When we looked at the T2D PRS, people with both PD and T2D tended to have higher genetic risk scores for T2D. But having a high T2D PRS alone didn’t increase the odds of having PD. This means that while T2D and PD often co-occur, this overlap is unlikely to be driven by shared genetics, at least not through common T2D risk variants.

Understanding how genes and environment jointly shape disease risk is crucial for developing more personalized medicine, where prevention or treatment strategies can be tailored to individual risk profiles. Although genetics clearly matter in PD, this study shows that environmental risk factors like smoking or caffeine may influence PD risk largely independently of a person’s genetic background.

Moreover, the genetic link between T2D and PD appears weaker than we previously thought in our study cohort. This study provides useful insights for future research and could help narrow down the biological pathways that are involved in these complex diseases.

Master’s Degree Project in Bioinformatics 45 credits 2025
Department of Biology, Lund University

Supervisor(s): Kajsa Atterling Brolin and Maria Swanberg, Translational Neurogenetics Group, BMC A10, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ugoh, Elijah Chinazor
supervisor
organization
course
BINP51 20242
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9188395
date added to LUP
2025-05-14 14:33:53
date last changed
2025-05-14 14:33:53
@misc{9188395,
  author       = {{Ugoh, Elijah Chinazor}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Investigating the Associations Between Polygenic Risk Scores, Environmental Exposure and Type II Diabetes in Parkinson’s Disease}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}