Mutations in VPS26A are not a frequent cause of Parkinson's disease

VPS35 mutations have been identified as a cause of autosomal dominantly inherited Parkinson's disease (PD). VPS35 interacts with VPS26A in the retromer complex that links mitochondrial and lysosomal pathways, which have both been shown to be dysfunctional in PD. Thus, mutations in VPS26A may be associated with PD. To test this hypothesis, we screened 245 idiopathic PD patients and 185 control subjects for mutations in the retromer subunit VPS26A. We found 2 novel missense variants in patients and 2 known missense variants in control subjects. The missense variants were unlikely to be disease causing, suggesting that VPS26A mutations are not a frequent cause of PD.