BDNF genetic variants are associated with onset age of familial Parkinson disease: GenePD Study.
Neurology 2005 Dec 13; 65(11):1823-5
Karamohamed S S, Latourelle J JC, Racette B BA, Perlmutter J JS, Wooten G GF, Lew M M, Klein C C, Shill H H, Golbe L LI, Mark M MH, Guttman M M, Nicholson G G, Wilk J JB, Saint-Hilaire M M, DeStefano A AL, Prakash R R, Tobin S S, Williamson J J, Suchowersky O O, Labell N N, Growdon B BN, Singer C C, Watts R R, Goldwurm S S, Pezzoli G G, Baker K KB, Giroux M ML, Pramstaller P PP, Burn D DJ, Chinnery P P, Sherman S S, Vieregge P P, Litvan I I, Gusella J JF, Myers R RH, Parsian A A
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, MA, USA.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) stimulates neuronal growth and protects nigral dopamine neurons in animal models of Parkinson disease (PD). Therefore, BDNF is a candidate gene for PD. The authors investigated five single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 597 cases of familial PD. Homozygosity for the rare allele of the functional BDNF G196A (Val66Met) variant was associated with a 5.3-year older onset age (p = 0.0001). These findings suggest that BDNF may influence PD onset age.