👤 Birgit Högl

There is only partial overlap in the genetic background of isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). To examine the role of autosomal dominant and recessive PD or atypical parkinsonism genes in the risk of iRBD. Ten genes, comprising the recessive genes PRKN, DJ-1 (PARK7), PINK1, VPS13C, ATP13A2, FBXO7, and PLA2G6 and the dominant genes LRRK2, GCH1, and VPS35, were fully sequenced in 1039 iRBD patients and 1852 controls of European ancestry, followed by association tests. We found no association between rare heterozygous variants in the tested genes and risk of iRBD. Several homozygous and compound heterozygous carriers were identified, yet there was no overrepresentation in iRBD patients versus controls. Our results do not support a major role for variants in these genes in the risk of iRBD. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. Show less

Knowledge of restless legs syndrome (RLS) has greatly increased in recent years due to the many advances that have been made in diagnosis, management and genetics. Tools have been developed that facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of RLS, in particular the essential diagnostic criteria for RLS have been refined, severity scales (IRLS, RLS-6, JHSS) have been developed, as have instruments that improve diagnostic accuracy and assess for specific aspects of RLS such as augmentation. These newly developed tools have been used in recent population-based studies, which have provided a greater understanding of the epidemiology of RLS, and also within patient-based trials. As far as the genetics of RLS is concerned, linkage studies in RLS families have revealed eight loci but no causally related sequence variant has yet been identified using this approach. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified variants within intronic or intergenic regions of MEIS1, BTBD9, and MAP2K5/LBXCOR1, and PTPRD, raising new pathological hypotheses for RLS. An overview on therapeutic options and recent trials is given based on evidence-based management strategies for this common disorder. Show less

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is associated with common variants in three intronic and intergenic regions in MEIS1, BTBD9, and MAP2K5/LBXCOR1 on chromosomes 2p, 6p and 15q. Our study investigated these variants in 649 RLS patients and 1230 controls from the Czech Republic (290 cases and 450 controls), Austria (269 cases and 611 controls) and Finland (90 cases and 169 controls). Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the three genomic regions were selected according to the results of previous genome-wide scans. Samples were genotyped using Sequenom platforms. We replicated associations for all loci in the combined samples set (rs2300478 in MEIS1, p = 1.26 x 10(-5), odds ratio (OR) = 1.47, rs3923809 in BTBD9, p = 4.11 x 10(-5), OR = 1.58 and rs6494696 in MAP2K5/LBXCOR1, p = 0.04764, OR = 1.27). Analysing only familial cases against all controls, all three loci were significantly associated. Using sporadic cases only, we could confirm the association only with BTBD9. Our study shows that variants in these three loci confer consistent disease risks in patients of European descent. Among the known loci, BTBD9 seems to be the most consistent in its effect on RLS across populations and is also most independent of familial clustering. Show less