title: No Association Between rs7077361 in ITGA8 and Parkinson's Disease in Sweden.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Integrin alpha 8 (ITGA8) encodes the alpha 8 subunit of the integrin alpha8beta1 protein and has recently been suggested as a new candidate gene for Parkinson's disease, an age related neurodegenerative disease with unknown etiology. ITGA8 is a transmembrane protein involved in several cellular processes, such as cell adhesion, migration and cytoskeletal rearrangement.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Screen a Swedish case control material for rs7077361, a genetic variant in ITGA8, in order to investigate its possible implication in Parkinson's disease in Sweden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rs7077361 was genotyped using TaqMan quantitative Real-time PCR and tested for association using appropriate statistical methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have screened 502 Swedish Parkinson patients and 599 healthy control individuals for rs7077361 in ITGA8. This genetic variant was in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium in the Swedish population. Allele and genotype frequencies were highly similar between the patients and controls and statistical testing showed that this genetic maker did not associate with Parkinson's disease (p=0.67).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results do not support the hypothesis of ITGA8 as a candidate gene for Parkinson's disease in Sweden.
authors: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Ran
authors: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Rawand Naiel
authors: RN
authors: Mehdi
authors: Department of Pharmacology, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors: Camilla
authors: C
authors: Fardell
authors: Department of Women´s and Children´s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Fengqing
authors: F
authors: Xiang
authors: Department of Pharmacology, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Nissbrandt
authors: Department of Neurology, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Olof
authors: O
authors: Sydow
authors: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Karin
authors: K
authors: Wirdefeldt
authors: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Andrea Carmine
authors: AC
authors: Belin
keywords: Association study; ITGA8; LRRK2; Parkinson’s disease; SNP; rs7077361