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Mendelian Randomisation Finds No Causal Association between Urate and Parkinson's Disease Progression
Rachel Coneys1, Catherine S Storm1, Demis A Kia1
1Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom.
Background:
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative movement disorder. Observational studies suggest higher levels of plasma urate may protect against Parkinson's risk and progression; however, causality cannot be established.
Objectives:
This study set out to determine whether there is a true causal association between urate levels and PD age at onset (AAO) and progression severity using recently released PD AAO and progression genome-wide association study (GWAS) data.
Methods:
A large two-sample Mendelian randomization design was employed, using genetic variants underlying urate levels and the latest GWAS data for PD outcomes.
Results:
This study found no causal association between urate levels and Parkinson's risk, AAO, or progression severity.
Conclusions:
Our results predict increasing urate levels as a therapeutic strategy is unlikely to benefit PD patients. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
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