California Teachers Study

Study Overview

Despite many decades of investigation, very little is known about the causes of Parkinson's disease, which is a debilitating movement disorder. With the health of the American Parkinson Disease Association, our team of collaborators at USC, UCLA, and Claremont Graduate University has conducted two follow-up projects with CTS participants who indicated on questionnaires that they had Parkinson's disease. The first of these studies was conducted between 2011 and 2012.

​

The goal of this follow-up project, conducted between September 2017 and June 2018, was to identify other possible risk factors for Parkinson's disease, including whether certain genetic or lifestyle factors make some people more or less likely to develop Parkinson's disease.

​

How to Participate

Recruitment for this project is now closed.

​

​

Scientific Significance

By collecting lymphoma tissues, we will be able to understand whether these different molecular characteristics are due to different risk factors. The investigators will use your medical records to verify Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, in consultation with your treating neurologist. In the future, we will be testing your saliva sample for genetic changes that may increase or decrease your risk of developing Parkinson’s disease or other conditions when combined with certain factors, such as diet, hormone therapy and other environmental exposures.

​

​