Evaluation of the gamma-synuclein gene in German Parkinson's disease patients

Mutations in the alpha-synuclein gene are responsible for an autosomal-dominantly inherited form of Parkinson's disease (PD) and alpha-synuclein was found to be the major component of Lewy bodies in PD. Because of the high homology to alpha-synuclein and the abundance in neuronal tissues, we investigated the gamma-synuclein gene in PD. We analyzed 262 German PD patients and 179 healthy German controls via two polymorphisms in the gamma-synuclein gene. No significant differences in the allelic or genotypic distributions of the investigated polymorphisms were observed between patients and controls. In addition no evidence for an increased risk of combined genotypes of polymorphisms in the gamma-synuclein and the alpha-synuclein gene was found. Therefore, our results do not support a major role of the gamma-synuclein gene in PD.