Alpha-synuclein mRNA expression in sporadic Parkinson's disease

The expression of α‐synuclein gene can be influenced by the genomic load and/or epigenetic factors. By using quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction techniques, we demonstrated that the α‐synuclein gene mRNA expression in sporadic PD did not differ from healthy controls (median [range] 0.110 ]0.012–0.628] vs. 0.120 [0.028–0.447]; P = 0.15). There was no difference in the α‐synuclein gene dosage between PD patients with high and low mRNA expression. Multivariate analysis did not reveal age, gender, or cigarette smoking as confounding variables. Our study suggests that there was no significant alteration of α‐synuclein mRNA expression in our sporadic PD patients compared to controls. However, the role of α‐synuclein mRNA expression in select groups of sporadic PD patients and its interaction with environmental agents need to be further determined. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society