Redefining Parkinson's Disease by Dysregulated Genetic Networks in Distinct Cell Types
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is classically linked to dopaminergic neuron loss, but emerging evidence suggests broader cellular involvement. Here we show that PD risk variants converge on distinct molecular networks across specific brain cell types, enabling stratification of patients into six subgroups: dopaminergic, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (O), excitatory (E), dopaminergic/excitatory, dopaminergic/oligodendrocyte and other. While all subgroups exhibit motor symptoms, the E-group individuals also display more severe non-motor symptoms, including dementia, hyposmia, and REM sleep behavior disorder. The O-group individuals exhibit reduced myelin integrity, as demonstrated by diffusion tensor imaging, implicating NRG6 (formerly C1orf56), a previously uncharacterized high-risk PD gene. We show that NRG6 encodes a conserved epidermal growth factor-like domain structurally and functionally analogous to neuregulin-1, which is critical for oligodendrocyte development and myelination. These findings redefine the cellular architecture of PD vulnerability and identify neuregulin-like signaling in oligodendrocytes as a potential contributor to non-motor symptoms.
Institutions: University of California San Diego, Van Andel Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4414599325