We report the results of a screen of 230 European familial index cases of Parkinson's disease for the recently described Ala53Thr mutation in the alpha-synuclein gene in an autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease kindred.
Our results confirm that the p. A53T SNCA mutation is relatively common in Greek patients with PD or PD plus dementia, particularly in cases with early onset and/or autosomal dominant family history.
A de novo alpha-synuclein A53T (p.Ala53 Th; c.209G > A) mutation has been identified in a Swedish family with autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD).
The lack of significant differences in the putaminal binding ratios may reflect a floor effect or a true preferential targeting of the caudate terminals in p.A53T SNCA-associated PD.
The identification of the p.A53T mutation in the SNCA gene encoding alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn), as causative of autosomal dominant Parkinson disease (PD) represented a fundamental milestone, which paved the way to the extremely prolific field of PD genetics.
Autosomal dominant Parkinson disease (PD) is caused by duplication or triplication of the alpha-synuclein gene as well as by the A30P, E46K, and A53T mutations.The mechanisms are unknown.