Genetic variations of GAK in two Chinese Parkinson's disease populations: a case-control study

PLoS One. 2013 Jun 24;8(6):e67506. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067506. Print 2013.

Abstract

Cyclin G-associated kinase (GAK) modifies α-synuclein expression levels and affects the susceptibility of Parkinson's disease (PD). The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1564282 of GAK gene has a significant association to the risk of PD among Caucasian populations. To date there is only one data with regards to ethnic Chinese from Mainland China. Here, we conducted a case-control study in two independent cohorts of Han Chinese populations from Taiwan and Singapore to validate this association. A total of 1,755 subjects (871 PD patients and 884 controls) were recruited. The results showed that neither the CT, TT genotypes nor the minor allele T of SNP rs1564282 were associated with PD among the subjects from Taiwan and Singapore as well as in the pooled analysis. Differences in our study population with regards to published literature may be due to epigenetic factors and gene-gene or gene-environmental interactions. Further studies in other Chinese populations will be of interest to validate these findings.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Asian People / genetics*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • China
  • Gene Frequency
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / genetics*
  • Parkinson Disease / enzymology*
  • Parkinson Disease / genetics*
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics*
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan

Substances

  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
  • GAK protein, human
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases

Grants and funding

This study was sponsored by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (CMRPG391182; CMRPG 3A0132); National Science Council, Executive Yuan, Taiwan (NSC 101-2314-B-182A-065-) and "National Medical Research Council, Singapore Millennium Foundation and Duke NUS Graduate Medical School." The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.