2. Academic Validation
  3. The genetics of Parkinson's syndromes: a critical review

The genetics of Parkinson's syndromes: a critical review

  • Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2009 Jun;19(3):254-65. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2009.03.008.
John Hardy 1,  Patrick Lewis,  Tamas Revesz,  Andrew Lees,  Coro Paisan-Ruiz
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Reta Lila Weston Institute and Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, England, UK. j.hardy@ion.ucl.ac.uk
PMID: 19419854 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2009.03.008
Abstract

Genetic analysis has identified many loci designated as PARK loci (OMIM #168600). Many of these loci do not refer to idiopathic Parkinson's disease which is characterized by Lewy body pathology, but rather to clinical parkinsonisms. In this review, besides reviewing the genetic of the disorder, we argue that this designation is misleading and that if we seek to understand the pathogenesis, we should study the genetics of Lewy body diseases: these include not only idiopathic Parkinson's disease, but also such disparate syndromes as Hallevorden-Spatz disease and Niemann-Pick Type C.

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