A virus long thought to be harmless may actually play a role in Parkinson’s disease, a condition that affects more than one million Americans.
Northwestern Medicine scientists discovered Human Pegivirus (HPgV) in the brains and spinal fluid of people with Parkinson’s, but not in those without the disease. The results challenge decades of assumptions about the virus.
"HPgV is a common, symptomless infection previously not known to frequently infect the brain," Dr. Igor Koralnik, chief of neuroinfectious diseases at Northwestern, said in a press release.
"We were surprised to find it in the brains of Parkinson’s patients at such high frequency and not in the controls."
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The findings were published in the journal JCI Insight.
Researchers examined post-mortem brain tissue from 10 Parkinson’s patients and 14 people who died of other causes. The virus appeared in five of the 10 Parkinson’s brains and none of the 14 controls.
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It also turned up in spinal fluid samples, suggesting the virus could be active in the nervous system. Patients carrying HPgV showed more advanced brain changes tied to Parkinson’s, including protein buildup and altered brain chemistry.
The team didn’t stop at brain tissue. Using blood samples from more than 1,000 participants in a project led by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, researchers saw the same immune system changes linked to the virus.
Even more striking: patients with a Parkinson’s-related mutation in the LRRK2 gene responded differently to HPgV than those without the mutation.
"This suggests it could be an environmental factor that interacts with the body in ways we didn’t realize before," Koralnik said.
"It may influence how Parkinson’s develops, especially in people with certain genetic backgrounds."
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Parkinson’s disease is the second most common brain disorder after Alzheimer’s, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. While a small percentage of cases are inherited, most patients don’t have a family history, and the cause has remained unknown.
If HPgV truly plays a role, it could help explain why some people develop Parkinson’s while others do not. It could also open the door to new treatments targeting viruses or the immune system.
"The study detected traces of HPgV more often in brains of people with Parkinson’s disease than in controls. This raises the possibility of a link between viral exposure and Parkinson’s, but it’s far too early to say the virus causes the disease," Dr. Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurologist and associate professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.
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Salinas, who was not involved in the study, also said that much larger and longer-term studies will be needed to determine whether this association has real clinical significance.
"For now, people should know this is early research and not a reason to worry—there’s no overwhelming evidence yet that this virus causes Parkinson’s, similar to how work on herpesviruses in Alzheimer’s has suggested a possible link but remains to be fully established."
According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, nearly 90,000 Americans are diagnosed every year. That number is expected to reach 1.2 million by 2030.
The Northwestern team plans to expand their study to see how often HPgV is found in people with Parkinson’s versus healthy controls, and whether other viruses may be involved.
"For a virus that was thought to be harmless, these findings suggest it may have important effects in the context of Parkinson’s disease," Koralnik said.
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"We also aim to understand how viruses and genes interact; insights that could reveal how Parkinson’s begins and could help guide future therapies."
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