LIG Audit Status

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:label /><jats:p>Recent genome‐wide association studies of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Caucasian populations have identified two new susceptibility loci, <jats:italic>GAK</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>HLA‐DRA</jats:italic>; however, only limited information exists regarding the involvement of these genes in PD risk in other ethnic groups. Here, we examined whether these genetic effects were consistent in a Taiwanese PD population. In a total 900 participants, including 448 PD patients and 452 control subjects, we genotyped the rs11248051 and rs1564282 variants of <jats:italic>GAK</jats:italic>, and the rs3129882 variant of <jats:italic>HLA‐DRA</jats:italic>. Logistic regression analysis was used to test for associations between genotype and PD under an additive model, adjusting for age and gender. Subjects with CT/TT genotypes of <jats:italic>GAK</jats:italic> rs11248051 had a modestly increased association with PD compared to those with CC genotype (OR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.09, 1.87; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0.03). Carriers and non‐carriers exhibited indistinguishable phenotypes in regards to clinical presentation and onset age. We observed no association between PD risk and <jats:italic>GAK</jats:italic> rs1564282 or <jats:italic>HLA‐DRA</jats:italic> rs3129882 variant. The different genetic effects between Taiwanese and Caucasian populations may come from differences in population structure and geographic region‐specific genetic–environmental interactions. In conclusion, our results supported the association between the rs11248051 variant in <jats:italic>GAK</jats:italic> and PD risk in a Taiwanese population. Future functional studies of <jats:italic>GAK</jats:italic> in neuronal degeneration are warranted to unravel its role in the pathogenetic mechanism of PD. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.</jats:p></jats:sec>