Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Aug 12.
doi: 10.1002/mds.30321. Online ahead of print.

Prognostic and Biological Roles of Parkinson's Disease-Associated Genes in Cancer

Sara Fiume  1 , Francesca Molinari  1 , Benedetta Vai  1 , Sara Poletti  1 , Giovanni Citterio  2 , Ferdinando Fiumara  3 , Stephanie Papin  4 , Paolo Paganetti  5 , Maurizio Callari  6 , Luca Colnaghi  1   7
Affiliations

Prognostic and Biological Roles of Parkinson's Disease-Associated Genes in Cancer

Sara Fiume et al. Mov Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Increasing evidence suggests significant associations between Parkinson's disease (PD) and cancer risks, with epidemiological studies revealing a complex relationship. PD patients exhibit lower risks of lung, genitourinary, and gastrointestinal cancers but higher risks of melanoma and brain cancers. Despite these observations, the underlying mechanisms between PD and cancers are poorly understood.

Objectives: We aimed to identify molecular signatures underlying this complex connection by assessing transcriptional associations between PD-related genes, patient survival, and the cancer-specific co-expression networks in which these genes are involved.

Methods: To explore this, we analyzed transcriptomic data from 18 cancer types in the TCGA dataset (n = 6088) and 16 cancer types in the DepMap dataset (n = 682). We focused on seven genes causally implicated in PD (SNCA, PINK1, LRRK2, PRKN/PARK2, PARK7, GBA1, and ATP13A2) and conducted in silico analyses, to evaluate their associations with survival and correlation with genes, pathways, and response to drugs in the context of cancer.

Results: Our findings revealed that the expression levels of the genes correlated with overall survival in a cancer-specific manner, often influenced by the TP53 genetic status. These genes were also associated with key cancer hallmarks such as genomic instability and cell proliferation.

Conclusions: This study suggests that PD and cancer may be connected through shared biological pathways, some overlapping with cancer hallmarks, and highlights the need for future mechanistic and functional studies to clarify the role of PD genes in cancer biology. © 2025 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; cancer; molecular pathways.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ben‐Shlomo Y, Darweesh S, Llibre‐Guerra J, Marras C, San Luciano M, Tanner C. The epidemiology of Parkinson's disease. Lancet 2024;403(10423):283–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01419-8
    1. Morris HR, Spillantini MG, Sue CM, Williams‐Gray CH. The pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Lancet 2024;403(10423):293–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01478-2
    1. West AB, Dawson VL, Dawson TM. To die or grow: Parkinson's disease and cancer. Trends Neurosci 2005;28(7):348–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2005.05.002
    1. Zhang X, Guarin D, Mohammadzadehhonarvar N, Chen X, Gao X. Parkinson's disease and cancer: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of over 17 million participants. BMJ Open 2021;11(7):e046329. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046329
    1. Mappin‐Kasirer B, Pan H, Lewington S, Kizza J, Gray R, Clarke R, et al. Tobacco smoking and the risk of Parkinson disease: a 65‐year follow‐up of 30,000 male British doctors. Neurology 2020;94(20):e2132–e2138. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000009437

LinkOut - more resources