The parkin gene is not involved in late-onset Parkinson's disease

Mutations in the parkin gene have been reported in patients with early onse t PD. The authors investigated the parkin gene in 118 patients who had an o nset of PD after age 45 years: 95 subjects were sporadic patients and 23 su bjects were from 18 families with a probable autosomal recessive inheritanc e. No pathogenetic mutations in the parkin gene were detected either in fam ilial or in sporadic patients. Moreover, no differences were found between patients and 100 age-matched normal controls in the allele and genotype fre quencies of four exonic parkin polymorphisms.