No Evidence for a Causal Relationship Between Cancers and Parkinson’s Disease

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Senkevich, Konstantin^{a; b} | Bandres-Ciga, Sara^c | Yu, Eric^{a; d} | Liyanage, Upekha E.^e | International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC) | Noyce, Alastair J^{f; g} | Gan-Or, Ziv^{a; b; d; *}

Affiliations: [a] The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), Montréal, QC, Canada | [b] Department of Neurology and neurosurgery, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada | [c] Molecular Genetics Section, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, NIA, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA | [d] Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada | [e] Cancer and Population Studies group, Population Health Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Locked Bag 2000, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Queensland, Australia | [f] Preventive Neurology Unit, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK | [g] Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London Institute of Neurology, London, UK

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Ziv Gan-Or, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, 1033 Pine Avenue, West, Ludmer Pavilion, room 312, Montreal, QC, H3A 1A1, Canada. Tel.: +1 514 398 5845; Fax: +1 514 398 8248; E-mail: ziv.gan-or@mcgill.ca.

Abstract: Background:Epidemiological data suggest that cancer patients have a reduced risk of subsequent Parkinson’s disease (PD) development, but the prevalence of PD in melanoma patients is often reported to be increased. Causal relationships between cancers and PD have not been fully explored. Objective:To study causal relationship between different cancers and PD. Methods:We used GWAS summary statistics of 15 different types of cancers and two-sample Mendelian randomization to study the causal relationship with PD. Results:There was no evidence to support a causal relationship between the studied cancers and PD. We also performed reverse analyses between PD and cancers with available full summary statistics (melanoma, breast, prostate, endometrial and keratinocyte cancers) and did not find evidence of causal relationship. Conclusion:We found no evidence to support a causal relationship between cancers and PD and the previously reported associations could be a result of genetic pleiotropy, shared biology or biases.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, mendelian randomization, cancer, melanoma

DOI: 10.3233/JPD-202474

Journal: Journal of Parkinson's Disease, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 801-809, 2021