Association study of sporadic Parkinson's disease genetic risk factors in patients from Russia by APEX technology

Most patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have sporadic form of the disease with a multifactorial etiology due to interactions between environmental conditions and the genetic constitution of the individuals. We have analyzed by APEX technology 50 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 19 genes related to cholecystokinin, serotonin, dopamine and opioid neurotransmission. Significant differences in the allele and genotype frequencies between the controls and PD patients were detected for four SNPs from three genes (serotonin 2A receptor (rs6311, P = 0.043), Wolfram syndrome 1 (rs1801211, P = 0.007), proopiomelanocortin (rs28930368, P = 0.026 and rs2071345, P = 0.027) genes). Two SNPs in proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene were also associated with different clinical forms of PD. Our data suggest that at least three genes involved in neurotransmitter systems may have more specific role in genetic predisposition to PD.