Tau acts as an independent genetic risk factor in pathologically proven PD

G Charlesworth, S Gandhi, JM Bras, RA Barker, DJ Burn, PF Chinnery, SM Gentleman, R Guerreiro, J Hardy, JL Holton, A Lees, Karen Morrison, UM Sheerin, N Williams, H Morris, T Revesz, NW Wood

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    19 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    MAPT has been repeatedly linked with Parkinson's disease (PD) in association studies. Although tau deposition may be seen in PD, its relevance to the pathogenesis of the condition remains unclear. The presence of tau-positive inclusions is, however, the defining feature of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which may often be clinically misdiagnosed as idiopathic PD. On a genetic level, variants in MAPT are the strongest risk factor for PSP. These facts raise the question whether the MAPT association in PD results from contamination with unrecognized cases of PSP. Using only neuropathologically proven PD, we show that the MAPT association remains and is independent of the PSP Association. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)838.e7
    Number of pages1
    JournalNeurobiology of Aging
    Volume33
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2012

    Keywords

    • Genetics
    • Association study
    • Parkinson's disease
    • MAPT
    • Progressive supranuclear palsy
    • PSP
    • PD
    • Tau

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