title: PINK1 heterozygous rare variants: prevalence, significance and phenotypic spectrum.
abstract: Heterozygous rare variants in the PINK1 gene, as well as in other genes causing autosomal recessive parkinsonism, have been reported both in patients and healthy controls. Their pathogenic significance is uncertain, but they have been suggested to represent risk factors to develop Parkinson disease (PD). The few large studies that assessed the frequency of PINK1 heterozygotes in cases and controls yielded controversial results, and the phenotypic spectrum is largely unknown. We retrospectively analyzed the occurrence of PINK1 heterozygous rare variants in over 1100 sporadic and familial patients of all onset ages and in 400 controls. Twenty patients and 6 controls were heterozygous, with frequencies (1.8% vs. 1.5%) not significantly different in the two groups. Clinical features of heterozygotes were indistinguishable to those of wild-type patients, with mean disease onset 10 years later than in carriers of two mutations but worse disease progression. A meta-analysis indicated that, in PINK1 heterozygotes, the PD risk is only slightly increased with a non significant odds ratio of 1.62. These findings suggest that PINK1 heterozygous rare variants play only a minor susceptibility role in the context of a multifactorial model of PD. Hence, their significance should be kept distinct from that of homozygous/compound heterozygous mutations, that cause parkinsonism inherited in a mendelian fashion.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS CSS-Mendel Institute, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marongiu
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferraris
authors.forename: Tàmara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ialongo
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michiorri
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soleti
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Antonio E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Elia
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ghezzi
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albanese
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Altavista
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antonini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.forename: Livia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brusa
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cortelli
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pellecchia
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pezzoli
authors.forename: Cesa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scaglione
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stanzione
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tinazzi
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zecchinelli
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeviani
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cassetta
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Garavaglia
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dallapiccola
authors.forename: Anna Rita
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bentivoglio
authors.forename: Enza Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Valente
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005808:Genes, Recessive; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D000099202:PTEN-Induced Putative Kinase
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases; D000099202:PTEN-Induced Putative Kinase