Strong evidence has shown that a defect in the Parkin gene is known to be a common, genetic cause of Parkinson disease (PD). The E3 ubiquitin ligase Nrdp1 is shown to interact with the N terminal of Parkin (the first 76 amino acids) and catalyze degradation of Parkin via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, suggesting that Nrdp1 may be involved in the development of PD via the regulation of Parkin, We believe we are the first to have screened PD patients for mutations in the Nrdp1 gene to determine the association between these variants and PD. By direct sequencing, we analysed the entire coding regions and 5' UTR of Nrdp1 in 209 Chinese PD patients and 302 unrelated healthy individuals. No variant was detected in the coding regions (exons 3-7); only 2 variants (c.-206 T > A and c.-208-8 A > G) were identified in the 5' UTR (exon 2) and intron 1. Furthermore, a study of the allelic and genotypic association between patients and controls showed no significant association between the c.-206 T > A polymorphism and PD; c.-208-8 A > G was identified in one PD patient and not in controls. Our data do not support the hypothesis of a major role for the Nrdp1 gene in PD development in the Chinese population.
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