Scientists at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) have discovered more than two dozen genetic markers for Parkinson’s disease — six of these markers were previously unknown, confirms the NIA in a statement.

Parkinson’s disease is degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that most commonly occurs in people over age 50.

The scientists, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, gathered and observed data from existing genome-wide association studies. In doing so, the scientists were able to observe subtle differences in the genetic code of large groups of individuals.

All of the observed genetic codes came from people of European ancestry — including more than 13,000 of those with Parkinson’s, and more than 95,000 of those without as a control.

“Unraveling the genetic underpinnings of Parkinson’s is vital to understanding the multiple mechanisms involved in this complex disease,”said Andrew Singleton, Ph.D., a scientist at the NIH’s National Institute on Aging (NIA) and senior author of the study. “And hopefully, (the research) may one day lead to effective therapies.”

For the study, published in Nature Genetics, researchers looked for possible genetic risk variants. The presence of these variants in a person’s genetic code may increase his chances of developing Parkinson’s disease. In some cases, a person’s likelihood of developing Parkinson’s was three times higher if they had a high number of genetic risk variants.

In other words, the greater the number of genetic risk variants present, the greater the risk of developing Parkinson’s.

The investigators confirmed their work with another study involving more than 10,000 participants and a gene chip called NeuroX. They compared the genetic code of the individuals — 5,353 patients and 5,551 controls — with NeuroX, which contains the codes for 24,000 common genetic variants believed to be associated with a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders.

“The replication phase of the study demonstrates the utility of the NeuroX chip for unlocking the secrets of neurodegenerative disorders,” said Dr. Sutherland. “The power of these high tech, data-driven genomic methods allows scientists to find the needle in the haystack that may ultimately lead to new treatments.”

More research is necessary to ascertain what role these genetic variants play in Parkinson’s disease.