Search

The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the association between cyclin G-associated kinase (GAK) rs1564282 C/T polymorphism and Parkinson’s disease (PD) susceptibility. GAK modifies α-synuclein expression levels and affects susceptibility to PD. Genetic variation in GAK may influence the risk of occurrence and progression of PD. Many studies have evaluated the association between GAK rs1564282 C/T polymorphism and the risk of PD. However, published data are still controversial. Nine case-control studies with a total of 8159 PD patients and 12,747 controls were included in the meta-analysis. The summary odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated to estimate this association. Both the minor allele frequencies and the genotype distributions of rs1564282 within GAK were different between the two groups when all studies were pooled. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed GAK rs1564282 C/T polymorphism was significantly associated with increased risk in both Asian and Caucasian populations. This meta-analysis suggests that GAK rs1564282 C/T polymorphism is associated with increased susceptibility to PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Many studies have evaluated the association between the HLA-DRA rs3129882 A/G polymorphism and risk for Parkinson's disease (PD) in Chinese-based populations, however, published data remain inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis from all relevant studies to evaluate an association of HLA-DRA rs3129882 A/G polymorphism with susceptibility to PD. Methods: The summary odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to evaluate the association. The Q statistic was used to evaluate homogeneity and funnel plots were used to assess publication bias. The minor A allele frequencies, additive, dominant as well as recessive genetic models were examined in the analyses. Results: Five case-control studies with a total of 2230 PD cases and 2262 controls from Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia were included in the final meta-analysis. Neither the minor A allele frequencies nor the genotypic distributions were significantly different between PD cases and controls when all studies were pooled into this meta-analysis. Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that HLA-DRA rs3129882 A/G polymorphism was not responsible for PD in Chinese-based populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Embryonic stem cells (ESCs)-based therapies have been increasingly recognized as a potential tool to replace or support cells and their function damaged by the neurodegenerative process that underlies Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we implanted engineered mouse embryonic stem (ES) CGR8 cells, which stably co-express glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), into striatum (Str) or both Str and substantia nigra (SN) of parkinsonian rats lesioned by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). We found that cell transplantation into Str or both Str and SN rescued behavioral abnormalities and striatal DA depletion associated with 6-OHDA lesion. Our findings suggested that the profound functional impairment in nigrostriatal circuitry could be at least partially restored by ESCs-based expression of TH and GDNF, which may be developed into a useful tool for PD therapy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]