A TEAM of scientists from the region has made an important discovery which could pave the way for new treatments for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

Applying the fruits of the Human Genome Project, researchers at Newcastle University have identified the genetic cause of a previously unknown disease.

While the team has known about the degenerative brain disease since 1990, members had to wait until the human genetic code was fully deciphered a few months ago.

Now the team - led by leading genetics expert Professor John Burn - has identified a genetic mutation which causes a damaging build up of iron in brain cells.

This build-up causes symptoms which can resemble Huntington's disease. The North-East study explains how the build-up occurs.

Now, the Newcastle team hopes to try a treatment known as chelation to reduce iron build-ups elsewhere in the body in the hope it can reduce symptoms of the rare brain disease.

Perhaps more exciting is that the discovery opens up the potential of treatment for other diseases, which blight the lives of thousands of people.

The Newcastle team's research is published in an international magazine, Nature Genetics, along with a second US study which confirms that another rare disease appears to be caused by a genetic fault which leads to a build-up of iron in brain cells.

Prof Burn, who is based at the School of Biochemistry and Genetics at Newcastle, said: "We think these papers could be an important milestone, and clearly they encourage further exploration of iron metabolism in the brain as a therapeutic target."

While only a handful of people in the UK have the rare inherited disease, Prof Burn is trying to find out whether it has now spread around the world, due to 19th and 20th Century migrations from the UK.

The professor has been working with a large family in Cumbria for more than 15 years to discover the genetic cause of their illness.

Other sufferers have been identified in County Durham, Manchester and Liverpool.

"Whether we can turn this knowledge into a treatment for these, or other diseases, is not known at this stage, but at least we have started out on that road," said Prof Burn