Lack of evidence for association of Parkin promoter polymorphism (PRKN-258) with increased risk of Parkinson's disease.

Parkin (PRKN) mutations are a common cause of early-onset parkinsonism, however the role of this gene in typical late-onset Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unresolved. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter region (PRKN-258; rs9347683) has been observed to associate with PD, affect age-at-onset (AAO) of symptoms, and to functionally effect differential expression of the PRKN transcript. In the present study, PRKN-258 did not associate with PD, and no evidence for an AAO effect was observed in three age and gender-matched Caucasian patient-control series from Norway, Ireland and the US. These data do not support a role for this common variant in PD etiology.