MUTATION IN THE ALPHA-SYNUCLEIN GENE AND SPORADIC PARKINSONS-DISEASE,ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE, AND DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES

Recently, alpha-synuclein attracted attention when Polymeropoulos and colleagues identified a missense mutation of this gene (Science 276:20 45-2047, 1997), which is responsible for a form of early-onset familia l Parkinson's disease (PD). Immunohistochemically, alpha-synuclein is localized in Lewy bodies, characteristic brain pathology of PD, dement ia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and Alzheimer's disease (AD), suggesting th at this protein may link these common neurological diseases. Explorati on of the possibility that the same mutation of the alpha-synuclein ge ne as that in familial PD (Ala53Thr) may also confer susceptibility to sporadic PD, DLB, and AD revealed the mutation in none of the samples of 329 cases and 230 controls examined, suggesting that this mutation is not involved in these neurological diseases. (C) 1998 Academic Pre ss.