Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural constitutional monarchy and federal system located in Southeast Asia. The top three diseases that cause deaths are ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory tract infections and stroke. Lower respiratory tract infections, colorectal cancer and Alzheimer’s disease have been the fastest growing diseases in recent years. The health insurance system complements public and private health care system. Traditional medicine in Malaysia includes Malaysian Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Indian Medicine, Islamic Medicine and homeopathy. Although TCM, such as acupuncture, has not been covered by health insurance, it is widely used under the impetus of the local Chinese people. At present, in Malaysia, the TCM public acceptance and education need promotion, and scientific researches need to be improved. It is hoped that in the future, the development of TCM in Malaysia will be better developed and disseminated by promoting TCM relevant legislation, increasing public awareness, focusing on education and training, and carrying out international scientific research cooperation.

INTRODUCTIONThe G2385R and R1628P LRRK2 gene variants have been associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in the Asian population. Recently, a new LRRK2 gene variant, A419V, was reported to be a third risk variant for PD in Asian patients. Our objective was to investigate this finding in our cohort of Asian subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODSEight hundred and twenty-eight subjects (404 PD patients, and 424 age and gender-matched control subjects without neurological disorders) were recruited. Genotyping was done by Taqman® allelic discrimination assay on an Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR machine.

RESULTSThe heterozygous A419V genotype was found in only 1 patient with PD, compared to 3 in the control group (0.4% vs 1.3%), giving an odds ratio of 0.35 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.01 to 3.79; P = 0.624).

CONCLUSIONA419V is not an important LRRK2 risk variant in our Asian cohort of patients with PD. Our data are further supported by a literature review which showed that 4 out of 6 published studies reported a negative association of this variant in PD.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alanine ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; ethnology ; Cohort Studies ; Cytosine ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Variation ; genetics ; Genotype ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; India ; ethnology ; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 ; Malaysia ; ethnology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parkinson Disease ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; genetics ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; genetics ; Risk Factors ; Singapore ; Thymine ; Valine ; genetics ; Young Adult