Screening for PRKN and PINK1 mutations in Ecuadorian patients with early-onset Parkinson's Disease.

Introduction: Early-onset Parkinson's Disease (EOPD) is a neurodegenerative disease with the clinical manifestation of movement symptoms before the age of 50. Patients with EOPD frequently have a positive family history of disease, with bi-allelic loss of function mutations in PRKN and PINK1 as the most common genetic cause. To date, the majority of genetic studies have been conducted on patients with European ancestry, limiting the understanding of the genetic heterogeneity of EOPD across populations.