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J Med Genet 2008;45:43-46 doi:10.1136/jmg.2007.051854
  • Letters to JMG

Rare heterozygous parkin variants in French early-onset Parkinson disease patients and controls

  1. S Lesage1,
  2. E Lohmann1,2,
  3. F Tison5,
  4. F Durif6,
  5. A Dürr1,2,3,
  6. A Brice1,2,3,4,
  7. for the French Parkinson’s Disease Genetics Study Group*
  1. 1
    INSERM UMR S679, Paris, France
  2. 2
    AP-HP, Groupe Pitié-Salpêtrière, Fédération des Maladies du Système Nerveux, Paris, France
  3. 3
    AP-HP, Groupe Pitié-Salpêtrière, Département de Génétique et Cytogénétique, Paris, France
  4. 4
    Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris VI, UFR, Groupe Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
  5. 5
    Service de Neurologie, Hôpital Du Haut-Lévêque, Pessac, France
  6. 6
    Service de Neurologie, Hôpital Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France
  1. Dr A Brice, INSERM UMR 679, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 47, Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75651 Paris cedex 13, France; brice{at}ccr.jussieu.fr
  • Received 18 May 2007
  • Revised 25 July 2007
  • Accepted 6 August 2007
  • Published Online First 31 August 2007

Abstract

Background: Mutations in the parkin gene cause autosomal recessive early-onset parkinsonism. The effect of single heterozygous mutations in parkin is still unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of exonic parkin variants in a case–control study.

Methods: The parkin gene was screened for both point mutations and exon rearrangements in 172 French patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and 170 controls from the same population. Patients with single parkin variants were also screened for PINK1, DJ-1 and LRRK2 exon 41 mutations.

Results: 10 exonic sequence variations were identified, including 3 known polymorphisms and 7 rare heterozygous variants, 2 of which were novel. There were significantly more rare heterozygous variants in patients (n = 10) with early-onset PD than in controls (n = 2). Screening of PINK1, DJ-1 and LRRK2 exon 41 in the 10 patients heterozygous for parkin failed to identify a second causative mutation.

Conclusion: These results suggest that single parkin mutations increase the risk of early-onset PD, but the possibility of a second parkin mutation cannot be excluded.

Footnotes

  • ↵* The French Parkinson’s Disease Genetics Study Group members: Y Agid, A-M Bonnet, M Borg, A Brice, E Broussolle, P Damier, A Destée, A Dürr, F Durif, E Lohmann, M Martinez, C Penet, P Pollak, O Rascol, F Tison, C Tranchant, M Vérin, F Viallet, M Vidailhet

  • Competing interests: None declared.

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