Genetic analysis of the TMEM230 gene in Chinese Han patients with Parkinson's disease.

TMEM230 mutations have been recently reported to cause autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD). However, there are limited studies from different ethnic populations to support the role of TMEM230 in sporadic PD. In this study, we performed a comprehensive TMEM230 mutation screening in 550 sporadic PD patients and 560 controls to elaborate the genetic contribution of TMEM230 to sporadic PD. Overall, we did not find any pathogenic mutations in the coding sequence, while we identified four variants (c.68 + 182G > A, c.78A > G, c.552 + 11A > G and c.174 + 11C > T) both in the patients and controls, and c.68 + 182G > A appeared to be associated with an increased risk of PD (odds ratio 1.782, 95% confidence interval 1.035-3.067, p < 0.05). After Bonferroni correction, however, c. 68 + 182G > A had no significant association with sporadic PD (p  = 0.136, p  > 0.05). Thus our results suggest that TMEM230 gene mutations may be rare in Chinese populations, and the variability of TMEM230 gene may not be a main factor for sporadic PD patients in Chinese Han populations. More evidence is still needed to clarify this question.