An overnight switch to ropinirole therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 68) switched from pergolide or bromocriptine to ropinirole overnight (dose equivalence ratios 1:6 and 10:6, respectively). The activities of daily living score for the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was significantly improved 4 weeks after the bromocriptine-ropinirole switch. All other UPDRS scores, including that for the side-effect component, were not significantly different after either switch. Overnight switching may be a safe therapeutic approach that may reduce hospitalisation and related socio-economic costs.     

Vertebral and thoracic osteoarticular manifestations in palmoplantar pustulosis

Two cases of inflammatory joint disease during attacks of aseptic palmo-plantar pustulosis are reported. Both patients had vertebral involvement: disco-vertebral erosions at several levels in one case and spondylitis and intersomatic ossification in the other. One patient also had sacroiliitis and involvement of the anterior thoracic skeleton (costoclavicular joints, costal cartilages ans xiphoid) confirmed by bone scintigraphy. The relation between this cutaneous-articular syndrome and other inflammatory joint diseases, especially ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthropathy are discussed. The very unusual involvement of the anterior thoracic skeleton, the coexistence of aseptic palmo-plantar pustulosis and absence of antigens HLA B27, B13 and B17 suggest a similarity to the pustular osteoarthritis recently described by Japanese workers who grouped this condition with other spondylarthropathies.     

SNCA and MAPT genes: Independent and joint effects in Parkinson disease in the Italian population

BackgroundSignificant efforts have been focused on investigating the contribution of common variants to Parkinson disease (PD) risk. Several independent GWAS and metanalysis studies have shown a genome-wide significant association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the α-synuclein (SNCA) and microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) regions. Here we investigated the role of SNCA and MAPT as PD susceptibility genes in a large Italian population of 904 patients and 891 controls. An evaluation of gene–gene and gene-environment interactions in association with PD was also attempted.MethodsThe SNCA Rep1 microsatellite was genotyped by a fluorescent PCR assay, whereas the SNPlex genotyping system was used to genotype 12 additional markers across the SNCA gene, and 2 SNPs tagging the risk MAPT H1 haplotype.ResultsSingle-marker analysis demonstrated nominal evidence of association for: i) the 261-bp-long allele of Rep1; ii) 7 SNPs in the SNCA region (top SNP: rs356186, P = 3.08 × 10^?04, intron 4); iii) both SNPs identifying the MAPT H1 haplotype (P = 4.63 × 10^?04 and P = 4.23 × 10^?04 for rs1800547 and rs9468, respectively). Moreover, we found a highly significant protective haplotype spanning ～83 kb from intron 4 to the 3′ end of SNCA (P = 1.29 × 10^?05).ConclusionsOur findings strongly confirm SNCA and MAPT as major PD susceptibility genes for idiopathic PD in the Italian population. Interaction analyses did not evidence either epistatic effects between the two loci or gene-environment interactions.     

LRRK2 G2019S mutation and Parkinson's disease: a clinical, neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric study in a large Italian sample

We analysed the Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene for the G2019S mutation in 1245 consecutive, unrelated patients with primary degenerative parkinsonism, and collected information on medical history, motor, cognitive and neuropsychiatric functions to characterize the clinical phenotype associated to the G2019S mutation. The mutation was detected in heterozygous state in 19 probands (1.7%), and in five additional affected relatives. Clinical features in carriers were those of typical, idiopathic Parkinson's disease. However, behavioural abnormalities were frequent (87%), suggesting a more widespread limbic involvement in G2019S carriers.     

The G6055A (G2019S) mutation in LRRK2 is frequent in both early and late onset Parkinson's disease and originates from a common ancestor

Background: Mutations in the gene Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2) were recently identified as the cause of PARK8 linked autosomal dominant Parkinson''s disease. Objective: To study recurrent LRRK2 mutations in a large sample of patients from Italy, including early (<50 years) and late onset familial and sporadic Parkinson''s disease. Results: Among 629 probands, 13 (2.1%) were heterozygous carriers of the G2019S mutation. The mutation frequency was higher among familial (5.1%, 9/177) than among sporadic probands (0.9%, 4/452) (p<0.002), and highest among probands with one affected parent (8.7%, 6/69) (p<0.001). There was no difference in the frequency of the G2019S mutation in probands with early v late onset disease. Among 600 probands, one heterozygous R1441C but no R1441G or Y1699C mutations were detected. None of the four mutations was found in Italian controls. Haplotype analysis in families from five countries suggested that the G2019S mutation originated from a single ancient founder. The G2019S mutation was associated with the classical Parkinson''s disease phenotype and a broad range of onset age (34 to 73 years). Conclusions: G2019S is the most common genetic determinant of Parkinson''s disease identified so far. It is especially frequent among cases with familial Parkinson''s disease of both early and late onset, but less common among sporadic cases. These findings have important implications for diagnosis and genetic counselling in Parkinson''s disease.