Parkinson’s disease is a genetically complex and heterogeneous disorder. To date, mutations in five genes have been identified to cause early-onset parkinsonism, which typically follows Mendelian inheritance. Late-onset PD without obvious familial aggregation (“idiopathic PD”), on the other hand, is likely governed by a variety of genetic and non-genetic factors that define an individual’s risk to develop the disorder, as well as onset age, clinical presentation and progression. Currently, approximately five scientific publications from research groups worldwide are published each month claiming or refuting genetic association between genetic risk factors and PD. For the public but also for the PD research community this wealth of information is becoming increasingly more difficult to follow and interpret.
PDGene is a comprehensive and publicly available database for which we screen all available and upcoming literature for PD genetic association studies. From these papers, we extract and upload essential study details, and perform meta-analyses for the estimation of summary effect sizes for each polymorphism.
The knowledge gained from the PDGene database will vastly enhance our understanding of the genetic causes of parkinsonism, and should ultimately facilitate the development of novel and efficient treatment and prevention strategies.