Genetic polymorphism and Parkinson's disease in Taiwan: study of debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase (CYP2D6)

Debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase (CYP2D6) is one of the cytochrome P450 enzyme families that catalyze the breakdown of a variety of exogenous and endogenous compounds. Previous reports have suggested that genetic polymorphisms of debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase are associated with susceptibility to Parkinson's disease (PD) in Caucasians. To determine if CYP2D6 also confers susceptibility to PD in Chinese patients, we carried out a study of genetic association using three polymorphic markers of the CYP2D6 gene, 188C/T, 1934G/A (mutant B), and 4268G/C. No differences of allele or genotype frequencies of these three polymorphisms were detected upon comparison of primary PD patients (n=53) with normal controls (n=94). The 1934A allele (mutant B), which accounts for the majority of poor metabolizers in Caucasians, is extremely rare in Chinese. Our data do not support the suggestion that the CYP2D6 gene is related to PD susceptibility in Chinese.