PLA2G6 variant in Parkinson's disease

PLA2G6 was reported recently as the causative gene for PARK14-linked autosomal recessive early-onset dystonia-parkinsonism. In a recent study in Singapore, heterozygous PLA2G6 p.P806R (c.2417C>G) mutation in exon 17 was reported to be a possible Parkinson's disease (PD)-related mutation. To determine the significance of the PLA2G6 mutation, we conducted an association study by performing direct sequencing of PLA2G6 exon 17 in 379 Japanese sporadic PD patients and 310 controls in the Japanese general population. In this group, we found 12 patients (12/379=3.16%) and 10 controls (10/310=3.23%) with a heterozygous p.P806R mutation (P=0.96, χ2=0.0019). Therefore, our large case–controlled study suggests that PLA2G6 p.P806R is not a disease-associated polymorphism in PD. Moreover, we performed direct sequencing of all exons and exon-intron boundaries of PLA2G6 in 116 Japanese patients with sporadic PD. Two single heterozygous variants (p.R301C or p.D331N) were found (both frequencies: 1/379 patients vs 0/310 controls) and the roles of their variants were unclear. Finally, combined with the previous report, our findings emphasize that PLA2G6 mutations are unlikely to be the major causes or risk factors of PD at least in Asian populations. However, further large studies in various populations are needed because patients with PLA2G6 mutations can show heterogeneous clinical features.