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ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Researchers identify 17 new PD risk loci

September 12, 2017 12:36 AM UTC

In a paper published in Nature Genetics, researchers from the Genentech Inc. unit of Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY), 23andMe Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and identified 17 new Parkinson’s disease risk loci that could be possible therapeutic targets.

The researchers used expression and phenotypic data to assign candidate risk genes to the PD-associated loci identified through the meta-analysis and found five candidate PD genes that were linked to lysosomal biology, including two previously identified genes, glucocerebrosidase (GBA; GCase) and transmembrane protein 175 (TMEM175), and three newly identified genes, cathepsin B (CTSB), ATPase H+ transporting V0 subunit A1 (ATP6V0A1) and galactosylceramidase (GALC). The authors also identified one candidate gene linked to autophagy -- lysine acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8)...