Glutathione S-transferase, polymorphism in Parkinson's disease

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are involved in the detoxification of end ogenous or exogenous toxins, which may play a role in the pathogenesis of P arkinson's disease. We genotyped the Glutathione-S-Transferase isoenzymes G STM1 and GSTT1 by polymerase chain reaction in order to evaluate different gene polymorphisms of these isoenzymes in 149 parkinsonian and 99 control s ubjects. No differences appeared between both groups regarding the frequenc ies of the homozygous deletion of GSTM1 (odds ratio 1.021; 95% CI [0.613; 1 .699], p < 0.521 Fisher's exact test) and GSTT1 (odds ratio 1.514; 95% Cl [ 0.811; 2.824], p < 0.127). Age of onset of PD did not correlate to GSTM1 an d GSTT1 polymorphisms. These results do not support the hypothesis of a pos sible impact of GSTM1 and GSTT1 detoxification activities in the pathogenes is of Parkinson's disease.