title: Lack of evidence for a genetic association between FGF20 and Parkinson's disease in Finnish and Greek patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fibroblast growth factor 20 (FGF20) is a neurotrophic factor preferentially expressed in the substantia nigra of rat brain and could be involved in dopaminergic neurons survival. Recently, a strong genetic association has been found between FGF20 gene and the risk of suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD). Our aim was to replicate this association in two independent populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Allelic, genotypic, and haplotype frequencies of four biallelic polymorphisms were assessed in 151 sporadic PD cases and 186 controls from Greece, and 144 sporadic PD patients and 135 controls from Finland.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No association was found in any of the populations studied.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, these findings suggest that common genetic variants in FGF20 are not a risk factor for PD in, at least, some European populations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Building 35, Room 1A1000, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. clarimon@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clarimon
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xiromerisiou
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eerola
authors.forename: Vanesa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gourbali
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hellström
authors.forename: Euthimios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dardiotis
authors.forename: Terhi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peuralinna
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Hadjigeorgiou
authors.forename: Pentti J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Tienari
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Singleton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: C416003:FGF20 protein, human; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors