No evidence of association between the alpha-2 macroglobulin gene and Parkinson's disease in a case-control sample

Alpha-2 macroglobulin (A2M) is a component of Lewy bodies, a hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). In 159 PD patients and 190 normal controls, we studied two A2M polymorphisms by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method: a five-nucleotide deletion at the 5' splice site of exon 18; and a valine to isoleucine exchange in amino acid position 1000 near the thiolester active site. No significant differences in allelic and genotypic distribution were found between cases and controls or between early and late-onset PD patients. The present data suggest that these polymorphisms do not represent a risk factor for PD and do not modulate the age at onset of PD.