Is the common LRRK2 G2019S mutation related to dyskinesias in North African Parkinson disease

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that mainly affects the elderly. The majority of cases are sporadic; only 10 to 15% are familial. Recently, mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) were associated with autosomal dominant, late-onset parkinsonism.1,2 The most common mutation, G2019S (c.6055 G>A), was detected in up to 5–6% of several European PD populations and 1–2% of patients with sporadic late-onset disease,3 but ∼40% in patients with PD from North Africa.4 Here we report the screening of the LRRK2 G2019S mutation in a new independent series of 136 North African patients with PD, and in ethnically matched healthy controls. We found that dyskinesias were significantly more frequent in patients with the G2019S mutation than in noncarriers. ### Methods. A new series of 136 unrelated patients with PD from Algeria (n = 114), Morocco (n = 10), Tunisia (n = 7), France (n = 4), and Libya (n = 1) (74 men, 62 women; mean age at onset, 54.7 ± 12.4 years, range 12–78) were compared with 66 healthy Algerian controls (32 men, 34 women; mean age at examination, 55.9 ± 11.0 years, range 39–84). The clinical diagnosis of PD was established as previously reported.4 A total of 119 patients (88%), 31 of whom had consanguinity, were diagnosed with sporadic idiopathic PD, 17 patients reported family histories of PD. …