VA Research Findings on Agent Orange, Parkinson’s Disease and Opioid Use

 

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Research plays a crucial role in improving lives, and new discoveries can benefit people well beyond the Veteran community. For Veterans, ongoing research helps support healthier, happier lives, especially for those who return from service with physical or psychological injuries that can lead to additional challenges. Continued support and funding for research strengthens the scientific community and helps multiple populations. Below are some of the recent findings from the VA Office of Research and Development, which you can explore further in the article.

Summary below of the article VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on Agent Orange, Parkinson’s disease and opioid use

• a VA Boston study found a possible link between exposure to Agent Orange and a rare form of skin cancer called acral melanoma, showing that Veterans with documented exposure had about 30 % higher odds of developing this type of melanoma compared with both healthy controls and Veterans with more common melanoma forms, marking the first time this association has been reported.

• Researchers led by a team at a New Mexico VA site investigated the gut bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris, finding it much more common in people with Parkinson’s disease and showing that the bacteria can cause a build-up of alpha-synuclein protein and suppress an enzyme important for dopamine function, suggesting a possible role for gut microbes in the development of Parkinson’s disease.

• Iowa City VA investigators used a mouse model to study opioid withdrawal and found that prolonged withdrawal triggers changes in brain synapses related to an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase 4, and that giving the heart disease drug acetazolamide blocked that enzyme’s expression, prevented those synaptic changes, and reduced opioid-seeking behavior, indicating potential for repurposing this drug to treat substance use disorder.

*This article is for a project for veterans.