Association analysis of 15 GWAS-linked loci with Parkinson's disease in Chinese Han population

Genetic factors play an important role in Parkinson's disease (PD) and vary from different races. A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified 17 novel risk loci that were associated with PD in Caucasians. Several subsequent studies investigated the association between these loci and PD in Chinese populations. However, the results on the role of these variants for PD have been conflicting. To explore the relationship of 15 controversial loci with PD in the Chinese Han population, we performed a case-control study including 492 PD patients and 524 healthy controls. iMLDR technology was used to type 15 GWAS-linked loci of 1016 blood samples from all subjects. We found that rs34043159 (IL1R2) (dominant model after adjusted: p = 0.011, OR 95 % CI 0.577 (0.378-0.880)) and rs4073221 (SATB1) (allele model: p = 0.001, OR 95 % CI 0.542 (0.371-0.792); dominant model after adjusted: p = 0.049, OR 95 % CI 0.587 (0.345-0.998)) were associated with PD. After age onset and gender subgroup analysis, rs34043159 (IL1R2) (chi(2) = 7.971, p = 0.019) and rs4073221 (SATB1) (chi(2) = 12.673, p = 0.001) were associated with late-onset PD. rs34043159 (IL1R2) was associated with PD in females (chi(2) = 7.227, p = 0.027) rather than males (chi(2) = 1.100, p = 0.577). rs4073221 (SATB1) was associated with PD in both males (chi(2) = 10.270, p = 0.005) and females (chi(2) = 7.050, p = 0.022). Further studies are needed to explore the role of IL1R2 and SATB1 in the pathogenesis of PD.