Mutations in the PARK2 and PARK6 genes, coding for the cytosolic E3 ubiquitin protein ligase Parkin and the mitochondrial serine/threonine kinase PINK1 [phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN)-induced putative kinase 1], lead to clinically similar early-onset Parkinsonian syndromes.
Recessively inherited deletions/duplications and point mutations in the parkin gene are the most common cause of early-onset parkinsonism known so far, but in an increasing number of studies, genetic variations in the serine/threonine kinase domain of the PINK1 gene are found to explain early-onset parkinsonism.
Although mutations in the parkin gene are frequently associated with familial Parkinsonism, emerging evidence suggests that parkin also plays a role in cancers as a putative tumor suppressor.
Mutations in the GCH1 gene are the most common cause of DRD, however, in some cases when the disease is associated with parkinsonism mutations in the PARK2 gene may be identified.
To describe a large consanguineous family in which inheritance of a 438- to 477-base pair deletion in exon 3 (Ex3Delta40) in the parkin gene resulted in parkinsonism (age range at onset, 24-32 years).
To investigate whether the presence of parkin gene mutations is associated with different nigrostriatal impairment than other early-onset parkinsonism.
Various deletions and point mutations in the Parkin gene have been strongly associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and parkinsonism, especially when the onset occurs at a young age.
By contrast, in familial cases of parkinsonism without Lewy bodies, such as in PARK2, the autonomic profile remains normal throughout the course of the disease.
Autosomal recessive early-onset parkinsonism with diurnal fluctuation (AR-EPDF, syn. autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism, PARK2) is one of the hereditary parkinsonian syndromes.
Thus, parkinsonism in parkin gene carriers may be related to abnormal nigral protein accumulation in the presence of a suprathreshold enzyme dysfunction.
Our results suggest parkinsonism due to mutations in the parkin gene is extremely rare in the US population when the disease begins over the age of 30.
In this report, we use RT-PCR to detect compound heterozygous deletions of the parkin gene in fibroblasts from two cases of middle age-onset familial parkinsonism with lower extremities-dominant resting tremor and mild cogwheel rigidity.
These data suggest that compound heterozygous parkin mutations and loss of parkin protein may lead to early-onset parkinsonism with Lewy body pathology, while a hemizygous mutation may confer increased susceptibility to typical Parkinson's disease.
Two brothers with parkinsonism and deletion of axons 4-6 of the parkin gene (ages 51, 55 years; duration of symptoms, 22, 29 years respectively) and 4 randomly selected patients with YOPD (mean age 47.8+/-4.9 years; mean duration of symptoms, 11.5+/-1.9 years) were administered a neuropsychological battery at "on" state.