ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Parkinson’s Disease and Aging-related Movement Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicCurrent Status of Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's syndromesView all 3 articles
Absence of the LRRK2 mutation in Emirati Parkinson's disease patients in contrast to other Arab populations
Provisionally accepted
Vinod Metta1Anjana Soorajkumar2Tom Loney3Nasna Nassir3K. Ray Chaudhuri1Mohammed Jashim Uddin4
Hani T. S Ben Amer5*- 1King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, United States
- 3Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences College of Medicine, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 4Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 5College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai Health, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Background: The role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by heterogeneity in specific genetic variations and their prevalence across different populations and geographic locations. Objective: To investigate the frequency of the Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutation, a well-known genetic risk factor for PD, within Emirati patients. Methods: Emirati PD patients were recruited from the United Arab Emirates between September 2022 and May 2024. Blood samples were systematically screened for mutations across all 52 exons of the LRRK2 gene. Results: The LRRK2 mutation was not detected in any of the 50 Emirati PD patients (mean age 64.2 ± 14.1 years, of whom 56% are male) examined. Conclusion: The absence of the LRRK2 and specifically the G2019S mutation in Emirati PD patients corroborates findings from Saudi Arabia and indicates a distinct genetic pattern compared to other Arab regions like Egypt and Maghreb (North African) countries, where the G2019S mutation prevalence ranges from 10-40%. This underscores the need for further research to unveil alternative genetic determinants specific to the Emirati PD population.
Keywords: Parkinson's disease (PD), Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), Emirati population, Epidemiology, genetic
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Metta, Soorajkumar, Loney, Nassir, Chaudhuri, Uddin and Ben Amer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hani T. S Ben Amer, hani.benamer@dubaihealth.ae
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