Objective To investigate the spectrum and features of parkin gene mutations in Chinese patients with sporadic early-onset Parkinsonism (EOP) in southern China.Methods All 156 Han Chinese patients with sporadic EOP were screened for mutations in parkin gene using SYBR Green Ⅰ Real-time PGR combined with sequencing of the entire coding region of the gene.Results Nineteen cases carried parkin mutations, including 2 homozygous, 2 compound heterozygous and 15 heterozygous mutations.Seventeen parkin gene rearrangement mutations ( 12 exon deletions and 5 exon duplications) and three small sequence mutations (ⅣS9 + 18C ＞ T,c.202-203delAG and c.813delT) were identified.The c.813delT is a novel mutation.The segment between exon 1 and 7 are mutational hot spot.Cases with parkin mutations showed no difference in initial symptoms, cardinal symptoms and disease severity, compared with cases without parkin mutations.But patients with parkin mutations showed significant earlier onset age ( ( 40.9 ± 6.8 ) years vs (35.5 ± 10.0) years, Z = -2.271, P ＜0.05) and longer disease duration ( (4.4 ±3.6) years vs (7.6 ±4.0) years,Z = - 3.680, P ＜ 0.05 ) than those without parkin mutation.Conclusions The frequency of parkin gene mutation was 12.18% in Han Chinese patients with sporadic EOP.Rearrangement mutation may be the predominant type of mutations.The exon deletion is a main mutation style.The sequence fragment between exon 1 and 7 of the parkin gene are mutational hot spots.There were no significant differences in clinical features between cases with parkin mutation and those without.However, our patient with parkin mutations showed a significantly earlier onset age, longer disease duration and slower progression than those without parkin mutation.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a technique platform of DJ-1 gene exon rearrangement using real-time PCR and to analyze DJ-1 gene exon rearrangement mutation in patients with autosomal recessive early-onset Parkinsonism(AREP). METHODS: Real-time PCR was used to analyze DJ-1 gene exon rearrangement mutation in 22 probands with AREP from unrelated Chinese Han families and 30 normal controls. RESULTS: We obtained satisfactory real-time PCR reaction conditions and primers of DJ-1 gene coding exons No exon rearrangement mutation in the DJ-1 gene is detected in this group. CONCLUSION We established platform of DJ-1 gene exon rearrangement using real-time PCR. Exon rearrangement mutation in the DJ-1 gene is rare in Chinese patients with AREP.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Age of Onset ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; ethnology ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Exons ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Rearrangement ; Humans ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; Male ; Mutation ; Oncogene Proteins ; genetics ; Parkinsonian Disorders ; genetics ; Protein Deglycase DJ-1 ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Young Adult