Farming and Movement Evaluation (FAME) Study

This study is a collaboration of investigators at the Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, CA, with intramural investigators at NIEHS and NCI. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Caroline Tanner, Director of Clinical Research at the Parkinson's Institute. The study has been reviewed by Study Section and approved for funding by the Extramural Division of NIEHS. Investigators at the Parkinson's Institute will be responsible for enrolling participants and conducting interviews. Intramural investigators at NIEHS will be responsible for collecting, storing, and analyzing biological and environmental samples. An intramural investigator at NCI will serve as a consultant. The long-term goal of this research is to elucidate the cause(s) of Parkinson's disease (PD), with a focus on environmental determinants. We propose to investigate the relationship between PD and exposure to pesticides or other factors by conducting a nested case-control study in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), using a 1:3 case-control ratio and employing classical methods for multivariate analysis. We will enroll 160 PD cases and 480 controls from the AHS cohort. Diagnosis of PD will be confirmed with a neurologic exam. We will supplement information on pesticide and other exposures already collected from the AHS cohort with additional interviews and measurements in blood, household dust, and soil. The study has five specific aims. Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that pesticide exposure increases PD risk using self-reported (life history) and direct (blood, dust) measurements. Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that non-pesticide chemical exposure increases PD risk, using a job-task-based occupational history, and blood testing. Aim 3 will test the hypothesis that exposure to the soil pathogen Nocardia asteroides is related to PD using a battery of assays in blood, soil, and dust. Aim 4 will assess the role of specific lifestyle and health factors previously reported to alter PD risk. Aim 5 will assess the effects of specific polymorphisms of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes previously linked to PD. The study will take full advantage of the AHS, a unique, prospectively studied cohort of licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses. We believe that this work could provide a critical and dramatic next step in furthering our knowledge of the environmental determinants of PD, and thereby take us closer to our goal of finding it cause.