Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by cerebral dopamine depletion that causes motor and cognitive deficits. The dopamine-related gene ANKK1 has been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders with a dopaminergic deficiency in the striatum. This study aims to define the contribution of ANKK1 rare variants in PD. We found in 10 out of 535 PD patients 6 ANKK1 heterozygous rare alleles located at the 5′UTR, the first exon, intron 1, and the nearby enhancer located 2.6 kb upstream. All 6 ANKK1 single nucleotide variants were located in conserved regulatory regions and showed significant allele-dependent effects on gene regulation in vitro. ANKK1 variant carriers did not show other PD-causing Mendelian mutations. Nevertheless, four patients were heterozygous carriers of rare variants of ATP7B gene, which is related to catecholamines. We also found an association between the polymorphic rs7107223 of the ANKK1 enhancer and PD in two independent clinical series (P = 0.007 and 0.021). rs7107223 functional analysis showed significant allele-dependent effects on both gene regulation and dopaminergic response. In conclusion, we have identified in PD patients functional variants at the ANKK1 locus highlighting the possible relevance of rare variants and non-coding regulatory regions in both the genetics of PD and the dopaminergic vulnerability of this disease.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive movement disability and a variety of non-motor symptoms
Given that cerebral dopamine depletion is a hallmark of PD here we evaluate in PD patients the eight exons and 5′ regulatory regions of ANKK1 as a new PD risk candidate gene
The screening of c.10G>T and c.[185 + 43A>C;185 + 45G>C] by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) in samples from the DNA National Bank Carlos III (DNBCIII) series revealed they were absent in 288 ethnic-matched healthy controls and 200 PD patients
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive movement disability and a variety of non-motor symptoms. The dopamine deficiency in PD impairs a wide network of brain areas that cause cognitive deficits. Genetic studies of familial and sporadic PD patients have identified more than 27 PD-associated genes[3,4]. Single nucleotide variations (SNVs) of the Ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing I gene (ANKK1; MIM*608774) have been reported to be associated with neuro-psychiatry disorders characterized by a dopaminergic deficiency in the striatum[5]. There is evidence that variations of the ANKK1 gene have a significant impact on the functioning of the dopaminergic system in the brain. Given that cerebral dopamine depletion is a hallmark of PD here we evaluate in PD patients the eight exons and 5′ regulatory regions of ANKK1 as a new PD risk candidate gene. We identified PD-related regulatory SNVs in the ANKK1 locus
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