Autosomal-dominant Parkinson's disease linked to 2p13 is not caused by mutations in transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha)

A susceptibility gene for Parkinson's disease (PD) with late onset and typi cal Lewy-body pathology maps to chromosome 2p13 (PARK3). In the present stu dy we examined the gene for transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha), w hich is located in the PARK3-region, as a potential candidate gene. This po lypeptide mitogen exerts trophic actions on dopaminergic neurons and TGF al pha-deficient mice have fewer dopaminergic neurons. We did not find mutations in the exonic or exon-flanking intronic sequences of index patients of two families linked to 2p13. This result excludes mut ations in the coding region of TGF alpha as a cause for hereditary PD, but does not rule out a possible role of sequence variants in regulatory region s or splice sites.