Alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphism and Parkinson's disease

a particular alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) polymorphism (allele A1) in the pr omoter region of the gene has been recently demonstrated to be associated w ith increased risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). In a case control study, we examine frequencies of ADH A1 allele in 100 PD patients (i.e. 200 alleles) , 100 diseased controls (i.e. 200 alleles), and 194 healthy controls (i.e. 388 alleles). In addition, we study possible association of a combined non- amyloid component of plaque (NACP-Rep 1) allele and ADH A1 allele with risk of PD. There was no statistical significance of the frequencies of BDH A1 allele between PD patients 12/200 (6%), diseased controls 13/200 (6.5%), an d healthy controls 20/388 (5.2%). No strong evidence of an association was found between ADH A1 allele and PD susceptibility in our study patients, Th ere was also no suggestion of linkage disequilibrium between NACP-Rep 1 and ADH A1 alleles. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved .