CARD15 variants in patients with sporadic Parkinson's disease

Recent reports have proven the importance of genetic factors and inflammation in the pathogenesis of sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD). In the current study, the frequency of CARD15/NOD2 gene variants (R702W, G908R, L1007fs), previously associated with Crohn's disease—a common inflammatory bowel disease, have been examined in a group of 308 sporadic PD patients and 220 healthy controls. Significantly higher frequency of total CARD15 variant alleles in PD patients (13.0%) compared to the controls (8.0%, p < 0.02) was observed. 24.0% of PD patients carried at least one CARD15 variant allele compared to 15.5% of healthy controls (p < 0.02, OR = 1.73). The results of the study suggest, that the polymorphism in CARD15/NOD2 gene may be a risk factor for sporadic PD development, and support the concept of inflammatory pathogenesis of PD.