Epidemiological studies have estimated a cumulative prevalence of PD of greater than 1 per thousand. When prevalence is limited to senior populations, this proportion increases nearly 10-fold. The estimated genetic risk ratio for PD is approximately 1.7 (70% increased risk for PD if a sibling has PD) for all ages, and increases over 7-fold for those under age 66 years. The role for genes contributing to the risk of PD is therefore significant.

This study utilized the well characterized collection of North American Caucasians with Parkinson's disease, and neurologically normal controls from the sample population which are banked in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS Repository) collection for a first stage whole genome analysis. Genome-wide, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping of these publicly available samples was originally done in 267 Parkinson's disease patients and 270 controls, and this has been extended to include ... (Show More)

Epidemiological studies have estimated a cumulative prevalence of PD of greater than 1 per thousand. When prevalence is limited to senior populations, this proportion increases nearly 10-fold. The estimated genetic risk ratio for PD is approximately 1.7 (70% increased risk for PD if a sibling has PD) for all ages, and increases over 7-fold for those under age 66 years. The role for genes contributing to the risk of PD is therefore significant.

This study utilized the well characterized collection of North American Caucasians with Parkinson's disease, and neurologically normal controls from the sample population which are banked in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS Repository) collection for a first stage whole genome analysis. Genome-wide, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping of these publicly available samples was originally done in 267 Parkinson's disease patients and 270 controls, and this has been extended to include genome wide genotyping in 939 Parkinson's disease cases and 802 controls.

The NINDS repository was established in 10-2001 towards the goal of developing standardized, broadly useful diagnostic and other clinical data and a collection of DNA and cell line samples to further advances in gene discovery of neurological disorders. All samples, phenotypic, and genotypic data are available to the research community including to academics and industry scientists. In addition, well characterized neurologically normal control subjects are a part of the collection. This collection formed the basis of this first stage study by Fung et al., and the expanded study by Simon-Sanchez et al. The genotyping data was generated and provided by the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Singleton NIA, and Dr. John Hardy NIA (NIH Intramural, funding from NIA and NINDS).

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