Association study of p53 codon 72 polymorphism in Parkinson's disease

Recent observations suggest that p53 might be one of the mediators of PD pathogenesis and neuronal cell death. The common p53 polymorphism at codon 72 has been found to be associated with several diseases and it has been shown that these p53 polymorphic variants have differential property in maintaining genomic integrity. In an association study, we examined p53 codon 72 polymorphism (P72R) in a case–control cohort of Parkinson's disease and healthy controls. A total of 455 subjects were recruited. The statistical analyses showed that the genotypes and allelic distribution were not significantly different between patients and controls in the Singaporean Chinese population. Moreover, no statistically significant association between p53Pro or p53Arg and PD was found between the gender and early- and late-onset PD. Our findings suggest that the common p53 polymorphism at codon 72 has a limited role in our PD population.