A novel locus for restless legs syndrome maps to chromosome 19p in an Irish pedigree

[Genetic risk variants in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders]

Movement disorders are often genetically complex with genetic risk factors playing a major role. For example, monogenic causes of Parkinson's disease (PD) can be found in only 2-5% of patients who often have an early onset (<40 years). In the majority of patients, common genetic variants seem to contribute to the disease risk. To date, 24 genetic risk factors have been identified. For restless legs syndrome (RLS), six different risk variants have been reported but no monogenic cause is known yet. For the genetic risk factors of essential tremor and dystonia, which are less well studied, only five and two candidate variants, respectively, have been described but their roles still require independent confirmation. In this review, we provide an overview on the involved genes, their function, and discuss possible, disease mechanism-driven therapies.

Achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of epidemiologic research in restless legs syndrome (RLS)

In the 20 years since the initial consensus on a common definition for restless legs syndrome (RLS), over 600 scientific reports on epidemiological aspects of RLS have been published. Most are descriptive and address important issues such as prevalence, familial patterns, comorbidities, and quality of life. While the establishment of prospective cohort studies and the use of secondary data sources are rather new to RLS research, both options significantly broaden the possibilities for analysis of disease risk factors. These two options, as well as the inclusion of a broader phenotyping of individual patients, have great potential to elucidate etiologic factors for RLS and expand knowledge about this common disorder. This article summarizes achievements in the area of RLS epidemiology, describes current challenges, and highlights future perspectives in the field.

The Molecular Genetics of Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor trait defined by symptoms that interfere with sleep onset and maintenance in a clinically meaningful way. Nonvolitional myoclonus while awake and asleep is a sign of the disorder and an informative endophenotype. The genetic contributions to RLS/periodic leg movements are substantial, are among the most robust defined to date for a common disease, and account for much of the variance in disease expressivity. The disorder is polygenic, as revealed by recent genome-wide association studies. Experimental studies are revealing mechanistic details of how these common variants might influence RLS expressivity.

Neurological disorders: towards a mechanistic understanding of restless legs syndrome

Restless legs syndrome is a curious neurological disorder of unknown aetiology. A new study has found that Drosophila mutants in the fly homologue of a human gene, BTBD9, that has been implicated as a risk factor for restless legs display important features of the syndrome.