Paraoxonase 2 (PON2) polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease

Oxidative stress may contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Paraoxonase 2 (PON2) is an ubiquitously expressed protein which displays antioxidant properties, though it does not have paraoxonase or arylesterase activity like other members of the PON gene family, such as PON1. Two coding region polymorphisms (Cys311Ser and Ala14Gly) of the PON2 gene were investigated by a newly developed method in a population-based case-control study of 179 PD patients and 293 controls. No statistically significant differences were found in the distribution of the wild type and mutant alleles between controls and PD. Similarly, no interactions between PON2 and two PON1 polymorphisms (192 and -108) were found. Polymorphisms of PON2 do not appear to be a risk factor for PD.