Association of the human leucocyte antigen region with susceptibility to Parkinson's disease.
OBJECTIVE
The core pathology of Parkinson's disease (PD) is a loss of the dopaminergic neurons in the nigro-striatal pathway, but this is only part of a more widespread pathological process, the nature of which is unknown. Recent data suggest a possible role for inflammation in this disease process. The Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) region is one of the most important genetic susceptibility factors in many immune-mediated diseases but has not been extensively investigated in PD.


METHODS
The authors typed the HLA class II loci HLA-DRB1 and -DQB1 in 528 patients with Parkinson's disease and 3430 controls from the UK.


RESULTS
The authors observed an association of HLA-DRB1 with susceptibility to Parkinson's disease. In particular, HLA-DRB1*03 was more common in patients compared with controls.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest a possible role of the HLA region in susceptibility to Parkinson's disease and as such are consistent with other evidence supporting the role of an inflammatory process in the cellular loss in Parkinson's disease, especially of the nigral dopaminergic neurons.
Saiki
Misuzu
M
Department of Clinical Neurosciences (Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Baker
Amie
A
Williams-Gray
Caroline H
CH
Foltynie
Thomas
T
Goodman
Reyna S
RS
Taylor
Craig J
CJ
Compston
D Alastair S
DA
Barker
Roger A
RA
Sawcer
Stephen J
SJ
Goris
An
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II / Q000235:genetics; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059866:HLA-DQ beta-Chains / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains / Q000235:genetics; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
D006680:HLA Antigens; D059866:HLA-DQ beta-Chains; C069051:HLA-DQB1 antigen; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains