Genome-wide genotyping in Parkinsonʹs disease and neurologically normal controls: first stage analysis and public release of data

Summary Background Several genes underlying rare monogenic forms of Parkinsonʹs disease have been identified over the past decade. Despite evidence for a role for genetics in sporadic Parkinsonʹs disease, few common genetic variants have been unequivocally linked to this disorder. We sought to identify any common genetic variability exerting a large effect in risk for Parkinsonʹs disease in a population cohort and to produce publicly available genome-wide genotype data that can be openly mined by interested researchers and readily augmented by genotyping of additional repository subjects. Methods We did genome-wide, single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) genotyping of publicly available samples from a cohort of Parkinsonʹs disease patients (n=267) and neurologically normal controls (n=270). More than 408 000 unique SNPs were used from the Illumina Infinium I and HumanHap300 assays. Findings We have produced around 220 million genotypes in 537 participants. This raw genotype data has been publicly posted and as such is the first publicly accessible high-density SNP data outside of the International HapMap Project. We also provide here the results of genotype and allele association tests. Interpretation We generated publicly available genotype data for Parkinsonʹs disease patients and controls so that these data can be mined and augmented by other researchers to identify common genetic variability that results in minor and moderate risk for disease.