Lack of evidence for a genetic association between FGF20 and Parkinson's disease in Finnish and Greek patients

Abstract Background Fibroblast growth factor 20 (FGF20) is a neurotrophic factor preferentially expressed in the substantia nigra of rat brain and could be involved in dopaminergic neurons survival. Recently, a strong genetic association has been found between FGF20 gene and the risk of suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD). Our aim was to replicate this association in two independent populations. Methods Allelic, genotypic, and haplotype frequencies of four biallelic polymorphisms were assessed in 151 sporadic PD cases and 186 controls from Greece, and 144 sporadic PD patients and 135 controls from Finland. Results No association was found in any of the populations studied. Conclusion Taken together, these findings suggest that common genetic variants in FGF20 are not a risk factor for PD in, at least, some European populations.