1. ¹Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
2. ²Department of Human Genetics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
3. ³Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
4. ⁴Department of Neurology; Hospital Lippe-Lemgo, Lemgo, Germany
5. ⁵Department of Neurology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Professor C Klein, Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany. Tel: +49-451-2903-353; Fax: +49-451-2903-355; E-mail: christine.klein@neuro.uni-luebeck.de

Received 6 March 2007; Revised 21 June 2007; Accepted 21 June 2007; Published online 18 July 2007.

Abstract

An association of the H1 haplotype and subhaplotypes in the microtubule-associated protein Tau (MAPT) gene with Parkinson's disease (PD) has been reported. To further evaluate their role in PD, we genotyped a sample set of 765 cases and controls consisting of two large European subgroups of German (n=418) and Serbian (n=347) origin for the MAPT haplotypes H1 and H2. The H1/H1 carriers were tested for three additional MAPT polymorphisms. In the Serbian sample, there was significant evidence (P=0.0108) of an association of the H1/H1 genotype and PD. Surprisingly, in the German sample, we did not find significant differences in genotype or haplotype frequencies between patients and controls. These results suggest that the role of H1 haplotypes in the etiology of PD may be ethnically dependent.