Synphilin-1 is present in lewy bodies in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

α-Synuclein is believed to play an important role in Parkinson's disease (PD). Mutations in the α-synuclein gene are responsible for familial forms of PD and α-synuclein protein is a major component of Lewy bodies in patients with sporadic PD. Synphilin-1 is a novel protein that we have previously found to associate in vivo with α-synuclein. We now show that synphilin-1 is present in Lewy bodies of patients with PD. Our data suggest that synphilin-1 could play a role in Lewy body formation and the pathogenesis of PD.