@article{discovery1348897, note = {PMCID: PMC2743996 {\copyright} 2009 Al-Chalabi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. NNIPPS was an academic-led study with core funding from the European Union 5th Framework Programme (QLG1-CT-2000-01262); support from French Health Ministry, Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique (AOM97073, AOM01125) and from Sanofi-Aventis affiliates in the UK, France and Germany, providing an unconditional research grant and drug supply throughout the study. Genetic analysis was supported by the French Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique (P040410). Three academic institutions (Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris; and University of Ulm) were sponsors of the NNIPPS study in each country, and jointly own the data. We thank the Parkinson's Disease Society, Medical Research Council, the French and UK PSP Associations, the Sarah Matheson Trust, UCL Institute of Genetics and Health, the Department of Health via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Specialist Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health award to South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, and the UK Parkinson's Disease Research Group for their help and support. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.}, journal = {PLoS One}, pages = {--}, number = {9}, title = {Genetic variants of the alpha-synuclein gene SNCA are associated with multiple system atrophy.}, year = {2009}, volume = {4}, keywords = {Aged, Case-Control Studies, Female, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Humans, Male, Microsatellite Repeats, Middle Aged, Multiple System Atrophy, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quality Control, alpha-Synuclein}, author = {Al-Chalabi, A and D{\"u}rr, A and Wood, NW and Parkinson, MH and Camuzat, A and Hulot, JS and Morrison, KE and Renton, A and Sussmuth, SD and Landwehrmeyer, BG and Ludolph, A and Agid, Y and Brice, A and Leigh, PN and Bensimon, G and NNIPPS Genetic Study Group, {}}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007114}, abstract = {Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by parkinsonism, cerebellar ataxia and autonomic dysfunction. Pathogenic mechanisms remain obscure but the neuropathological hallmark is the presence of alpha-synuclein-immunoreactive glial cytoplasmic inclusions. Genetic variants of the alpha-synuclein gene, SNCA, are thus strong candidates for genetic association with MSA. One follow-up to a genome-wide association of Parkinson's disease has identified association of a SNP in SNCA with MSA.} }