Hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with spheroids (HDLS) was originally described in a large Swedish pedigree. Since then, 22 reports describing a total of 13 kindred's and 11 sporadic cases have been published. Inheritance is autosomal dominant, albeit the gene is unknown. Here we report on the clinical findings, genealogical data, brain MRI data, and autopsy/biopsy findings of four probands from three independently ascertained novel families from Norway, Germany and US.

We identified a 39-year-old female and her twin sister, a 52-year-old male and a 47-year-old male with progressive neurological illness characterized by personality changes, cognitive decline and motor impairments, such as gait problems, bradykinesia, tremor and rigidity. Brain MRI showed white matter abnormalities with frontal prominence. Brain biopsy/autopsies were consistent with HDLS.

HDLS is an under-recognized disease and in reporting these cases, we aim to increase the awareness of the disorder. Due to varied and wide phenotypic presentations, which may imitate several neurodegenerative diseases, HDLS can be difficult to diagnose. Definitive diagnosis can be established only by direct brain tissue examination. Familiarity with the clinical presentation and typical neuroimaging findings may be helpful in narrowing the diagnosis.

Objective:

Eleven genetic loci have reached genome-wide significance in a recent meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in Parkinson disease (PD) based on populations of Caucasian descent. The extent to which these genetic effects are consistent across different populations is unknown.

Methods:

Investigators from the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease Consortium were invited to participate in the study. A total of 11 SNPs were genotyped in 8,750 cases and 8,955 controls. Fixed as well as random effects models were used to provide the summary risk estimates for these variants. We evaluated between-study heterogeneity and heterogeneity between populations of different ancestry.

Results:

In the overall analysis, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 9 loci showed significant associations with protective per-allele odds ratios of 0.78–0.87 (LAMP3, BST1, and MAPT) and susceptibility per-allele odds ratios of 1.14–1.43 (STK39, GAK, SNCA, LRRK2, SYT11, and HIP1R). For 5 of the 9 replicated SNPs there was nominally significant between-site heterogeneity in the effect sizes (I2 estimates ranged from 39% to 48%). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed significantly stronger effects for the BST1 (rs11724635) in Asian vs Caucasian populations and similar effects for SNCA, LRRK2, LAMP3, HIP1R, and STK39 in Asian and Caucasian populations, while MAPT rs2942168 and SYT11 rs34372695 were monomorphic in the Asian population, highlighting the role of population-specific heterogeneity in PD.

Conclusion:

Our study allows insight to understand the distribution of newly identified genetic factors contributing to PD and shows that large-scale evaluation in diverse populations is important to understand the role of population-specific heterogeneity. Neurology® 2012;79:659–667

The most recent late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) genome-wide association study revealed genome-wide significant association of two new loci: rs744373 near BIN1 (p=1.6×10−11) and rs597668 near EXOC3L2/BLOC1S3/MARK4 (p=6.5×10−9). We have genotyped these variants in a large (3,287 LOAD, 4,396 controls), independent dataset comprising eleven case-control series from the USA and Europe. We performed meta-analyses of the association of these variants with LOAD and also tested for association using logistic regression adjusted by age-at-diagnosis, sex and APOE ε4 status. Meta-analysis results showed no evidence of series heterogeneity and logistic regression analysis successfully replicated the association of BIN1 (rs744373) with LOAD with an odds ratio (OR=1.17, p=1.1×10−4) comparable to that previously reported (OR=1.15). The variant near EXOC3L2 (rs597668) showed only suggestive association with LOAD (p=0.09) after correcting for the presence of the APOE ε4 allele. Addition of our follow-up data to the results previously reported increased the strength of evidence for association with BIN1 (11,825 LOAD, 32,570 controls, rs744373 Fisher combined p=3.8×10−20). We also tested for epistatic interaction between these variants and APOEε4 as well as with the previously replicated LOAD GWAS genes (CLU: rs11136000, CR1; rs3818361, and PICALM: rs3851179). No significant interactions between these genes were detected. In summary, we provide additional evidence for the variant near BIN1 (rs744373) as a LOAD risk modifier, but our results indicate that the effect of EXOC3L2 independent of APOE ε4 should be studied further.

Background

Two recent studies identified a mutation (p.Asp620Asn) in the vacuolar protein sorting 35 gene as a cause for an autosomal dominant form of Parkinson disease . Although additional missense variants were described, their pathogenic role yet remains inconclusive.

Methods and results

We performed the largest multi-center study to ascertain the frequency and pathogenicity of the reported vacuolar protein sorting 35 gene variants in more than 15,000 individuals worldwide. p.Asp620Asn was detected in 5 familial and 2 sporadic PD cases and not in healthy controls, p.Leu774Met in 6 cases and 1 control, p.Gly51Ser in 3 cases and 2 controls. Overall analyses did not reveal any significant increased risk for p.Leu774Met and p.Gly51Ser in our cohort.

Conclusions

Our study apart from identifying the p.Asp620Asn variant in familial cases also identified it in idiopathic Parkinson disease cases, and thus provides genetic evidence for a role of p.Asp620Asn in Parkinson disease in different populations worldwide.

Background

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is known to harbor highly penetrant mutations linked to familial parkinsonism. However, its full polymorphic variability in relationship to Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk has not been systematically assessed.

Methods

We examined the frequency pathogenicity of 121 exonic LRRK2 variants in three ethnic series (Caucasian [N=12,590], Asian [N=2,338] and Arab-Berber [N=612]) consisting of 8,611 patients and 6,929 control subjects from 23 separate sites of the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson’s Disease Consortium.

Findings

Excluding carriers of previously known pathogenic mutations, new independent risk associations were found for polymorphic variants in Caucasian (p.M1646T, OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.15 – 1.78, P=0.0012) and Asian (p.A419V, OR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.35 – 3.83, P=0.0011) populations. In addition, a protective haplotype was observed at >5% frequency (p.N551K-p.R1398H-p.K1423K) in the Caucasian and Asian series’, with a similar finding in the small Arab-Berber series that requires further study (combined 3-series OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.72 – 0.94, P=0.0043). Of the two previously reported Asian risk variants p.G2385R was found to be associated with disease (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.20 – 2.49, P=0.0026) but no association was observed for p.R1628P (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.36 – 1.07, P=0.087). Also in the Arab-Berber series, p.Y2189C showed potential evidence of risk association with PD (OR: 4.48, 95% CI: 1.33 – 15.09, P=0.012). Of note, two variants (p.I1371V and p.T2356I) which have been previously proposed as pathogenic were observed in patient and control subjects at the same frequency.

Interpretation

LRRK2 offers an example where multiple rare and common genetic variants in the same gene have independent effects on disease risk. Lrrk2, and the pathway in which it functions, is important in the etiology and pathogenesis of a greater proportion of patients with PD than previously believed.

Funding

The present study and original funding for the GEO-PD Consortium was supported by grants from Michael J. Fox Foundation. Studies at individual sites were supported by a number of funding agencies world-wide.

Hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with spheroids (HDLS) is an autosomal dominantly inherited central nervous system white matter disease with variable clinical presentations including personality and behavioral changes, dementia, depression, parkinsonism, seizures, and others1,2. We combined genome-wide linkage analysis with exome sequencing and identified 14 different mutations affecting the tyrosine kinase domain of the colony stimulating factor receptor 1 (encoded by CSF1R) in 14 families affected by HDLS. In one kindred, the de novo occurrence of the mutation was confirmed. Follow-up sequencing analyses identified an additional CSF1R mutation in a patient clinically diagnosed with corticobasal syndrome (CBS). In vitro, CSF-1 stimulation resulted in the rapid autophosphorylation of selected tyrosine-residues in the kinase domain of wild-type but not mutant CSF1R, suggesting that HDLS may result from a partial loss of CSF1R function. Since CSF1R is a critical mediator of microglial proliferation and differentiation in the brain, our findings suggest an important role for microglial dysfunction in HDLS pathogenesis.

Objective

We studied the independent and joint effects of the genes encoding alpha-synuclein (SNCA) and microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) in Parkinson's disease (PD) as part of a large meta-analysis of individual data from case-control studies participating in the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease (GEO-PD) consortium.

Methods

Participants of Caucasian ancestry were genotyped for a total of four SNCA (rs2583988, rs181489, rs356219, rs11931074) and two MAPT (rs1052553, rs242557) SNPs. Individual and joint effects of SNCA and MAPT SNPs were investigated using fixed- and random-effects logistic regression models. Interactions were studied both on a multiplicative and an additive scale, and using a case-control and case-only approach.

Results

Fifteen GEO-PD sites contributed a total of 5302 cases and 4161 controls. All four SNCA SNPs and the MAPT H1-haplotype defining SNP (rs1052553) displayed a highly significant marginal association with PD at the significance level adjusted for multiple comparisons. For SNCA, the strongest associations were observed for SNPs located at the 3′ end of the gene. There was no evidence of statistical interaction between any of the four SNCA SNPs and rs1052553 or rs242557, neither on the multiplicative nor on the additive scale.

Interpretation

This study confirms the association between PD and both SNCA SNPs and the H1 MAPT haplotype. It shows, based on a variety of approaches, that the joint action of variants in these two loci is consistent with independent effects of the genes without additional interacting effects.

Background

Glutathione S-transferase omega-1 and 2 genes (GSTO1, GSTO2), residing within an Alzheimer and Parkinson disease (AD and PD) linkage region, have diverse functions including mitigation of oxidative stress and may underlie the pathophysiology of both diseases. GSTO polymorphisms were previously reported to associate with risk and age-at-onset of these diseases, although inconsistent follow-up study designs make interpretation of results difficult. We assessed two previously reported SNPs, GSTO1 rs4925 and GSTO2 rs156697, in AD (3,493 ADs vs. 4,617 controls) and PD (678 PDs vs. 712 controls) for association with disease risk (case-controls), age-at-diagnosis (cases) and brain gene expression levels (autopsied subjects).

Results

We found that rs156697 minor allele associates with significantly increased risk (odds ratio = 1.14, p = 0.038) in the older ADs with age-at-diagnosis > 80 years. The minor allele of GSTO1 rs4925 associates with decreased risk in familial PD (odds ratio = 0.78, p = 0.034). There was no other association with disease risk or age-at-diagnosis. The minor alleles of both GSTO SNPs associate with lower brain levels of GSTO2 (p = 4.7 × 10-11-1.9 × 10-27), but not GSTO1. Pathway analysis of significant genes in our brain expression GWAS, identified significant enrichment for glutathione metabolism genes (p = 0.003).

Conclusion

These results suggest that GSTO locus variants may lower brain GSTO2 levels and consequently confer AD risk in older age. Other glutathione metabolism genes should be assessed for their effects on AD and other chronic, neurologic diseases.

Background

There is a clear need to develop biomarkers for Parkinson disease (PD) diagnosis, differential diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders, and monitoring disease progression. We and others have demonstrated that a decrease in DJ-1 and/or α-synuclein in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a potential index for PD diagnosis, but not for PD severity.

Methods

Using highly sensitive and quantitative Luminex assays, we measured total tau, phosphorylated tau, amyloid beta peptide 1-42 (Aβ1-42), Flt3 ligand and fractalkine levels in CSF in a large cohort of PD patients at different stages as well as healthy and diseased controls. The utility of these five markers was evaluated for disease diagnosis and severity/progression correlation alone, as well as in combination with DJ-1 and α-synuclein. The major results were further validated in an independent cohort of cross-sectional PD patients as well as in PD cases with CSF samples collected longitudinally.

Findings

The results demonstrated that combinations of these biomarkers could differentiate PD patients not only from normal controls but also from patients with Alzheimer disease and multiple system atrophy. Particularly, with CSF Flt3 ligand, PD could be clearly differentiated from multiple system atrophy, a disease that overlaps with PD clinically, with excellent sensitivity (99%) and specificity (95%). In addition, we identified CSF fractalkine/Aβ1-42 that positively correlated with PD severity in cross-sectional samples as well as with PD progression in longitudinal samples.

Interpretation

We have demonstrated that this panel of seven CSF proteins could aid in PD diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and correlation with disease severity and progression.

A 40 year old man was admitted with a 2 weeks history of headache, blurred vision and bilateral optic neuritis. During the 6 months period prior to admission he had treated with infliximab infusions for prsoriasis arthritis. He had 0.2 vision in right eye and 0.5 in left Fundoscopy showed moderate disc swelling more on the right than on the left side and right-sided splinter heamorrhages at the disc margin. The intracranial pressure was normal. He was treated with oral methylprednisolone, 100 mg daily for 1 week. His vision improved gradually and when seen 10 weeks later his visual acuity was 1.0 in both eyes and he had normal visual fields. Optic neuritis is a rare but well recognized serious adverse effect of treatments with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists. This case report illustrates a rare but typical side effect of a TNF alpha inhibitors used for treating a number of inflammatory diseases. These reactions usually appear during first year of treatments and never after the first one or two infusions. Both genders and all ages are affected. In some patients the visual defects are irreversible.

Genealogical investigation of a large Norwegian family (F04) with autosomal dominant parkinsonism has identified 18 affected family members over four generations. Genetic studies have revealed a novel pathogenic LRRK2 mutation c.4309 C>A (p.Asn1437His) that co-segregates with disease manifestation (LOD=3.15, θ=0). Affected carriers have an early age at onset (48 ± 7.7 SD years) and are clinically asymmetric and levodopa-responsive. The variant was absent in 623 Norwegian control subjects. Further screening of patients from the same population identified one additional affected carrier (1/692) with familial parkinsonism who shares the same haplotype. The mutation is located within the Roc domain of the protein and enhances GTP-binding and kinase activity, further implicating these activities as the mechanisms that underlie LRRK2-linked parkinsonism.

Background

A recently published genome-wide association study (GWAS) of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) revealed genome-wide significant association of variants in or near MS4A4A, CD2AP, EPHA1 and CD33. Meta-analyses of this and a previously published GWAS revealed significant association at ABCA7 and MS4A, independent evidence for association of CD2AP, CD33 and EPHA1 and an opposing yet significant association of a variant near ARID5B. In this study, we genotyped five variants (in or near CD2AP, EPHA1, ARID5B, and CD33) in a large (2,634 LOAD, 4,201 controls), independent dataset comprising six case-control series from the USA and Europe. We performed meta-analyses of the association of these variants with LOAD and tested for association using logistic regression adjusted by age-at-diagnosis, gender, and APOE ε4 dosage.

Results

We found no significant evidence of series heterogeneity. Associations with LOAD were successfully replicated for EPHA1 (rs11767557; OR = 0.87, p = 5 × 10-4) and CD33 (rs3865444; OR = 0.92, p = 0.049), with odds ratios comparable to those previously reported. Although the two ARID5B variants (rs2588969 and rs494288) showed significant association with LOAD in meta-analysis of our dataset (p = 0.046 and 0.008, respectively), the associations did not survive adjustment for covariates (p = 0.30 and 0.11, respectively). We had insufficient evidence in our data to support the association of the CD2AP variant (rs9349407, p = 0.56).

Conclusions

Our data overwhelmingly support the association of EPHA1 and CD33 variants with LOAD risk: addition of our data to the results previously reported (total n > 42,000) increased the strength of evidence for these variants, providing impressive p-values of 2.1 × 10-15 (EPHA1) and 1.8 × 10-13 (CD33).

We recently reported evidence for an association between the individual variation in normal human episodic memory and a common variant of the KIBRA gene, KIBRA rs17070145 (T-allele). Since memory impairment is a cardinal clinical feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we investigated the possibility of an association between the KIBRA gene and AD using data from neuronal gene expression, brain imaging studies, and genetic association tests. KIBRA was significantly over-expressed and 3 of its 4 known binding partners under-expressed in AD-affected hippocampal, posterior cingulate and temporal cortex regions (p<0.010, corrected) in a study of laser capture microdissected neurons. Using positron emission tomography in a cohort of cognitively normal, late-middle-aged persons genotyped for KIBRA rs17070145, KIBRA T non-carriers exhibited lower glucose metabolism than did carriers in posterior cingulate and precuneus brain regions (P<0.001, uncorrected). Lastly, non-carriers of the KIBRA rs17070145 T-allele had increased risk of late-onset AD in an association study of 702 neuropathologically verified expired subjects (p=0.034; OR=1.29) and in a combined analysis of 1026 additional living and expired subjects (p=0.039; OR=1.26). Our findings suggest that KIBRA is associated with both individual variation in normal episodic memory and predisposition to AD.

Recently, a variant in LINGO1 (rs9652490) was found to associate with increased risk of essential tremor. We set out to replicate this association in an independent case-control series of essential tremor from North America. In addition, given the clinical and pathological overlap between essential tremor and Parkinson disease, we also evaluate the effect of LINGO1 rs9652490 in two case-control series of Parkinson disease. Our study demonstrates a significant association between LINGO1 rs9652490 and essential tremor (P=0.014) and Parkinson disease (P=0.0003), thus providing the first evidence of a genetic link between both diseases.

Genetic variation in fibroblast growth factor 20 (FGF20) has been associated with risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). Functional evidence suggested the T allele of one SNP, rs12720208 C/T, altered PD risk by increasing FGF20 and α-synuclein protein levels. Herein we report our association study of FGF20 and PD risk in four patient-control series (total: 1,262 patients and 1,881 controls), and measurements of FGF20 and α-synuclein protein levels in brain samples (nine patients). We found no evidence of association between FGF20 variability and PD risk, and no relationship between the rs12720208 genotype, FGF20 and α-synuclein protein levels.

Background

Recent studies indicate an increased frequency of mutations in the gene for Gaucher disease, glucocerebrosidase (GBA), among patients with Parkinson disease. An international collaborative study was conducted to ascertain the frequency of GBA mutations in ethnically diverse patients with Parkinson disease.

Methods

Sixteen centers participated, including five from the Americas, six from Europe, two from Israel and three from Asia. Each received a standard DNA panel to compare genotyping results. Genotypes and phenotypic data from patients and controls were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression models and the Mantel Haenszel procedure to estimate odds ratios (ORs) across studies. The sample included 5691 patients (780 Ashkenazi Jews) and 4898 controls (387 Ashkenazi Jews).

Results

All 16 centers could detect GBA mutations, L444P and N370S, and the two were found in 15.3% of Ashkenazi patients with Parkinson disease (ORs = 4.95 for L444P and 5.62 for N370S), and in 3.2% of non-Ashkenazi patients (ORs = 9.68 for L444P and 3.30 for N370S). GBA was sequenced in 1642 non-Ashkenazi subjects, yielding a frequency of 6.9% for all mutations, demonstrate that limited mutation screens miss half the mutant alleles. The presence of any GBA mutation was associated with an OR of 5.43 across studies. Clinically, although phenotypes varied, subjects with a GBA mutation presented earlier, and were more likely to have affected relatives and atypical manifestations.

Conclusion

Data collected from sixteen centers demonstrate that there is a strong association between GBA mutations and Parkinson disease.

Attempts at replicating the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have not successfully identified genetic risk factors. The present study reevaluates data from the GWAS and focuses on the SNP (rs11155313, located in the Phactr2 gene) with the lowest P-value in the Tier 2 patient-control series of the first PD GWAS. We employed four case-control series to examine the nominated SNP rs11155313 and identified association in US (OR: 1.39, P=0.032), Canadian (OR: 1.41, P=0.014) and Irish (OR: 1.44, P=0.034) patient-control series, but not in the Norwegian series (OR: 1.15, P=0.27). When combining all four series the observed trend was statistically significant (OR: 1.30, P<0.001). This study shows reappraisal of publicly available results of GWAS may help nominate new risk factors for PD.

The aim of this study was to investigate a possible association between haemochromatosis (HFE) gene mutations and the prevalence of Parkinson's disease. The HFE gene encodes a protein that modulates iron absorption. Several studies have documented increased iron levels in the basal ganglia in patients with Parkinson's disease. In a study on patients with concurrent hereditary haemochromatosis and Parkinson's disease, abnormal deposition of iron in the basal ganglia was suggested as an inductor of Parkinson's disease. In this study, genotype frequencies of the HFE mutations C282Y, H63D and S65C were estimated in 388 patients with Parkinson's disease and compared with frequencies found in comparable studies. No significant differences were found in frequencies between the patients and comparable populations. This study does not indicate increased susceptibility to Parkinson's disease in HFE gene mutation carriers in Norway.

Variants in the Omi/HtrA2 gene have been nominated as a cause of Parkinson’s disease. This sequencing study of Omi/HtrA2 in 95 probands with apparent autosomal dominant inheritance of Parkinson’s disease did not identify any pathogenic mutations. In addition, there was no association between common variations in the Omi/HtrA2 gene and susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease in any of our four patient-control series (n=2373). Taken together our results do not support a role for Omi/HtrA2 variants in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.

A single nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter region of the dopamine β-hydroxylase gene (DBH -1021C>T; rs1611115) is reported to regulate plasma enzyme activity levels. This variant has also been the focus of two large association studies in Parkinson’s disease yielding conflicting results. We examined this association in four Caucasian patient-control series (n=2696). A modest protective association was observed in the Norwegian series (OR=0.81, p=0.03; n=1676), however the effect was in the opposite direction in the Polish series (OR=2.01, p=0.01; n=224). No association was observed for DBH -1021C>T with disease susceptibility in the US and Irish series, or combining all four series (OR=0.91, p=0.16, n=2696). We observed a modest association between DBH -1021C>T and AAO in the combined series (p=0.01). Taken together, these findings indicate that DBH -1021C>T does not play a major role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.

Background

Mutations in LRRK2 gene represent the most common known genetic cause of Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methodology/Principal Findings

We used metabolomic profiling to identify biomarkers that are associated with idiopathic and LRRK2 PD. We compared plasma metabolomic profiles of patients with PD due to the G2019S LRRK2 mutation, to asymptomatic family members of these patients either with or without G2019S LRRK2 mutations, and to patients with idiopathic PD, as well as non-related control subjects. We found that metabolomic profiles of both idiopathic PD and LRRK2 PD subjects were clearly separated from controls. LRRK2 PD patients had metabolomic profiles distinguishable from those with idiopathic PD, and the profiles could predict whether the PD was secondary to LRRK2 mutations or idiopathic. Metabolomic profiles of LRRK2 PD patients were well separated from their family members, but there was a slight overlap between family members with and without LRRK2 mutations. Both LRRK2 and idiopathic PD patients showed significantly reduced uric acid levels. We also found a significant decrease in levels of hypoxanthine and in the ratios of major metabolites of the purine pathway in plasma of PD patients.

Conclusions/Significance

These findings show that LRRK2 patients with the G2019S mutation have unique metabolomic profiles that distinguish them from patients with idiopathic PD. Furthermore, asymptomatic LRRK2 carriers can be separated from gene negative family members, which raises the possibility that metabolomic profiles could be useful in predicting which LRRK2 carriers will eventually develop PD. The results also suggest that there are aberrations in the purine pathway in PD which may occur upstream from uric acid.

Herein, we investigate whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the PARK10 locus are associated with susceptibility to Parkinson's disease (PD) or age at onset (AAO) of disease. One hundred and eighty-eight SNPs were genotyped across the PARK10 locus in 180 PD patients and 180 controls from central Norway (stage 1). We then used the linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure from stage 1 to select 75 SNPs for genotyping in 186 patients and 186 controls from Ireland (stage 2). Nineteen SNPs were selected from this and previous studies for follow-up in an extended Norwegian series (530 patients and 1142 controls), the Irish series and a US series (221 patients and 221 controls) (stage 3). After correction for multiple testing, markers within ubiquitin specific peptidase 24 (USP24) are significantly associated with PD within Norwegian, Irish, and US series combined (rs13312: odds ratio (OR) 0.78, P<0.001; rs487230: OR 0.80, P=0.001). Independently, the association for rs13312 is strongest in the extended Norwegian series (OR 0.76, P=0.005), although not significant after correction for multiple testing (P≤0.003 is considered significant). ORs in the Irish series are almost identical, and a similar but a weaker effect was observed for the US series. No marker showed consistent association with AAO. Our data indicate that genetic variability in USP24 is associated with PD. Although our work extends and confirms a previous report, the observed effect size does not explain the PARK10 linkage peak.

Summary

Background

Mutations in LRRK2, the gene that encodes leucine-rich repeat kinase 2, are a cause of Parkinson's disease (PD). The International LRRK2 Consortium was established to answer three key clinical questions: can LRRK2-associated PD be distinguished from idiopathic PD; which mutations in LRRK2 are pathogenic; and what is the age-specific cumulative risk of PD for individuals who inherit or are at risk of inheriting a deleterious mutation in LRRK2?

Methods

Researchers from 21 centres across the world collaborated on this study. The frequency of the common LRRK2 Gly2019Ser mutation was estimated on the basis of data from 24 populations worldwide, and the penetrance of the mutation was defined in 1045 people with mutations in LRRK2 from 133 families. The LRRK2 phenotype was defined on the basis of 59 motor and non-motor symptoms in 356 patients with LRRK2-associated PD and compared with the symptoms of 543 patients with pathologically proven idiopathic PD.

Findings

Six mutations met the consortium's criteria for being proven pathogenic. The frequency of the common LRRK2 Gly2019Ser mutation was 1% of patients with sporadic PD and 4% of patients with hereditary PD; the frequency was highest in the middle east and higher in southern Europe than in northern Europe. The risk of PD for a person who inherits the LRRK2 Gly2019Ser mutation was 28% at age 59 years, 51% at 69 years, and 74% at 79 years. The motor symptoms (eg, disease severity, rate of progression, occurrence of falls, and dyskinesia) and non-motor symptoms (eg, cognition and olfaction) of LRRK2-associated PD were more benign than those of idiopathic PD.

Interpretation

Mutations in LRRK2 are a clinically relevant cause of PD that merit testing in patients with hereditary PD and in subgroups of patients with PD. However, this knowledge should be applied with caution in the diagnosis and counselling of patients.

Funding

UK Medical Research Council; UK Parkinson's Disease Society; UK Brain Research Trust; Internationaal Parkinson Fonds; Volkswagen Foundation; National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute of Aging; Udall Parkinson's Disease Centre of Excellence; Pacific Alzheimer Research Foundation Centre; Italian Telethon Foundation; Fondazione Grigioni per il Morbo di Parkinson; Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research; Safra Global Genetics Consortium; US Department of Veterans Affairs; French Agence Nationale de la Recherche.

Background

The objective of this study was to analyze factors influencing the risk and timing of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in central Norway. The APOE ε4 allele is the only consistently identified risk factor for late onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). We have described the allele frequencies of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) in a large population of patients with AD compared to the frequencies in a cognitively-normal control group, and estimated the effect of the APOE ε4 allele on the risk and the age at onset of AD in this population.

Methods

376 patients diagnosed with AD and 561 cognitively-normal control individuals with no known first degree relatives with dementia were genotyped for the APOE alleles. Allele frequencies and genotypes in patients and control individuals were compared. Odds Ratio for developing AD in different genotypes was calculated.

Results

Odds Ratio (OR) for developing AD was significantly increased in carriers of the APOE ε4 allele compared to individuals with the APOE ε3/ε3 genotype. Individuals carrying APOE ε4/ε4 had OR of 12.9 for developing AD, while carriers of APOE ε2/ε4 and APOE ε3/ε4 had OR of 3.2 and 4.2 respectively. The effect of the APOE ε4 allele was weaker with increasing age. Carrying the APOE ε2 allele showed no significant protective effect against AD and did not influence age at onset of the disease. Onset in LOAD patients was significantly reduced in a dose dependent manner from 78.4 years in patients without the APOE ε4 allele, to 75.3 in carriers of one APOE ε4 allele and 72.9 in carriers of two APOE ε4 alleles. Age at onset in early onset AD (EOAD) was not influenced by APOE ε4 alleles.

Conclusion

APOE ε4 is a very strong risk factor for AD in the population of central Norway, and lowers age at onset of LOAD significantly.

Background

Post-mortem Lewy body and Lewy neuritic inclusions are a defining feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). With the discovery of missense and multiplication mutations in the alpha-synuclein gene (SNCA) in familial parkinsonism, Lewy inclusions were found to stain intensely with antibodies raised against the protein. Yeast-two-hybrid studies identified synphilin-1 as an interacting partner of alpha-synuclein, and both proteins show co-immunolocalization in a subset of Lewy body inclusions. In the present study, we have investigated whether common variability in synphilin-1, including coding substitutions are genetically associated with disease pathogenesis.

Methods

We screened the synphilin-1 gene for 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 300 affected subjects with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 412 healthy controls. Six of these were rare variants including five previously identified amino acid substitutions that were chosen in a direct approach for association of rare disease causing mutations. An additional five highly heterozygous SNPs were chosen for an indirect association approach including haplotype analysis, based on the assumption that any disease causing mutations might be in linkage disequilibrium with the SNPs selected. We also genotyped a microsatellite marker (D5S2950) within intron 6 of the gene and five additional microsatellites clustered downstream of the 5p23.1-23.3 synphilin-1 locus. Genome-wide linkage analysis, in a number of independent studies, has previously highlighted suggestive linkage to PD in this region of chromosome 5.

Results

Screening of previously known amino acid substitutions in the synphilin-1 gene, identified the C1861>T (R621C) substitution in four patients (chromosomes n = 600) and 10 control subjects (chromosomes n = 824), whereas the G2125>C (E706Q) substitution was detected in one patient and four control subject, suggesting both these substitutions are not associated with susceptibility to PD. Heterozygous non-synonymous T131>C (V44A) and synonymous C636>T (P212P) amino acid substitutions were each detected in only one patient with PD. Heterozygous C1134>T (L378L) synonymous substitutions were found in two patients with PD and one control subject. D5S2010 the most distal telomeric microsatellite marker genotyped,15.3 Mb from synphilin-1, was genetically associated with PD (p = 0.006, 27df) independently adjusted for multiple testing according to its high amount of alleles but not the total number of other markers investigated. Other flanking and intronic SNP and microsatellite markers showed no evidence for genetic association with disease.

Conclusion

In this study rare synphilin-1 SNPs were assessed in a direct association approach to identify amino acid substitutions that might confer risk of PD in a homozygous or compound heterozygous state. We found none of these rare variations were associated with disease. In contrast to prior studies the frequency of the R621C substitution was not significantly different between PD and control subjects, neither were the V44A or E706Q substitutions. Similarly, our indirect study of more heterozygous SNPs, including both single marker and haplotype analyses, showed no significant association to PD. However, marginal association of microsatellite alleles with idiopathic PD, within the chromosome 5q21 region, indicates further studies are warranted.