rs3902720

This study replicates association between ELAVL4 SNP rs967582 and Parkinson disease risk in 712 PD patients and 312 controls from the Gene PD study. The minor allele of rs967582 showed increased risk of PD (OR = 1.46, P = 0.011 for dominant model, P = 0.021 for additive model). Meta-analysis across five populations confirmed overall association with rs967582 and PD affection status (P = 0.0063). This represents the third Caucasian population demonstrating association between this ELAVL4 variant and PD susceptibility.

This association study examined ELAVL4 gene polymorphisms in Norwegian, US, and Irish Parkinson's disease (PD) case-control samples to replicate previous findings of ELAVL4 association with age-at-onset in PD. While no associations were found in Norwegian or US samples, two ELAVL4 markers (rs967582, OR=1.53, p=0.007; rs3902720, OR=1.55, p=0.006) showed significant allelic association with PD susceptibility in the Irish series. The authors suggest this Irish-specific association may reflect a Celtic-founder effect, rather than a universal PD susceptibility locus.