Do polymorphisms in transcription factors LMX1A and LMX1B influence the risk for Parkinson’s disease?

• Published in: Journal of Neural Transmission Vol. 116; no. 3; pp. 333 - 338
• Main Authors: Bergman, Olle, Håkansson, Anna, Westberg, Lars, Belin, Andrea Carmine, Sydow, Olof, Olson, Lars, Holmberg, Björn, Fratiglioni, Laura, Bäckman, Lars, Eriksson, Elias, Nissbrandt, Hans
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.03.2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Farmakologi och toxikologi; Female; Gene Frequency; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genotype; Homeodomain Proteins - genetics; Humans; LIM-Homeodomain Proteins; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Movement Disorders - Original Article; Neurology; Neurosciences; Parkinson Disease - genetics; Pharmacology and Toxicology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Psychiatry; Sex Factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; SNPs; Association study; LMX1B; LMX1A; Parkinson’s disease; Neuronal development
• ISSN: 0300-9564; 1435-1463; 1435-1463
• DOI: 10.1007/s00702-009-0187-z

The key symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are caused by degeneration of dopamine neurons originating in substantia nigra. Whereas, transcription factor LMX1A is crucial for the differentiation of mesencephalic dopamine neurons, LMX1B appears to be important for both the development and the survival of these cells. The aim of this study was to investigate if genetic variation in LMX1A and LMX1B differs between patients with PD ( n  = 357) and control subjects ( n  = 1428) by genotyping 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in LMX1A and 11 SNPs in LMX1B. Three SNPs in LMX1A and one in LMX1B were associated with PD. After splitting for gender, six SNPs were associated with PD in women and four in men. The significances obtained did not survive correction for multiple testing, and our results should hence be interpreted with caution, but are partly in line with a previous report, and should thus be of sufficient interest to encourage further studies of these genes in PD.