Background

Premutation alleles of the FMR1 X-linked gene containing CGG repeat expansions ranging from 55 to 200 are associated with diverse late-onset neurological involvements, including most severe disorder termed Fragile X-associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS). It is intriguing that at least one-third of male, and a much lower than predicted from the X-linkage proportion of female carriers are free of this syndrome. This suggests the existence of secondary genetic factors modifying the risk of neurological involvements in these carriers. Considering the occasional presence of parkinsonian features in FXTAS, we explored the possibility that the Parkinson's Disease Polygenic Risk Score (PD PRS) is related to the occurrence of FXTAS or less severe neurological involvements, in premutation carriers.

Methods

The Genome-wide SNP genotyping and clinical data on neurological status were obtained from 250 unrelated affected and non-affected male and female adult carriers of the premutation. The medians for the Parkinson's Disease Polygenic Risk Score (PD PRS) were compared between the groups of asymptomatic and neurologically affected carriers, and the association of PD PRS with neurological involvement in context with the other known risk factors was explored by fitting univariate and multiple logistic regression models.

Results

There was a significant difference between the medians from the asymptomatic versus neurologically affected (FXTAS+) groups (p = 0.009). The FXTAS+ status was significantly associated with age at testing (p < 0.001), gender (p = 0.026), and with PD PRS (p = 0.021). The contribution of PD PRS remained significant after adjusting for age and gender (p = 0.044).

Conclusions

We have obtained the first evidence for the relationship between PD PRS and the risk of FXTAS or lesser neurological involvements in the FMR1 premutation carriers. This suggests the role of Parkinson's disease polygenic variants as genetic modifiers of the risk of late onset neurological changes in these carriers.