New Parkinson’s-associated genomic markers specific to African or Native American ancestry identified

October 1, 2026

SEOUL — Results from a massive gene-mapping study implicated several novel risk loci for Parkinson’s disease (PD) in African Americans and Latinos, including some within genes known to be expressed in brain tissue and potentially relevant to neuronal function.

Researchers analyzed the gene architecture among participants in the U.S. government’s Million Veteran Program (MVP), one of the world’s most diverse genetic research databases, in an effort to further delineate PD risk by race and ethnicity. They presented their discovery of the newly identified PD risk-associated loci at the 2026 International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders® in Seoul.

“Parkinson's arises from a complex interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures,” said Dr. Chin-Hsien Lin, professor of neurology at National Taiwan University Hospital. “Over the past decade, genome-wide association studies have identified numerous loci associated with PD risk, but these efforts have been conducted predominantly in populations of European ancestry, leaving the genetic architecture of PD in other ancestral groups poorly understood.”

Nearly 30% of U.S. veterans identify as non-White or Hispanic/Latino, enabling researchers to analyze admixture chromosomal mapping across 473,566 MVP participants, including 9,057 with PD, to detect ancestry-specific risk loci. They identified five novel risk loci: two on chromosomes 3p14.1 and 11p15.4 linked to African ancestry, and three on 16p13.3-p13.13, 18q21.33-q22.1 and 20p12.3-p12.2 linked to Native American ancestry.

None of the identified risk loci had been previously reported in PD genome-wide association studies, which have largely relied on European-ancestry cohorts. Authors noted that validation in independent populations and further fine-mapping are still needed to confirm findings.

“This study addresses a critical gap in our field,” Lin said. “Because PD is genetically heterogeneous across populations, expanding studies to underrepresented ancestries — as this analysis of African and Native American ancestry in the Million Veteran Program does — is essential for building a complete, equitable picture of PD risk worldwide and uncovering loci that would otherwise be missed.”

Read the full abstract: Admixture Mapping of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Million Veteran Program Cohort Implicates Novel Genetic Risk Loci for PD Driven by African and Native American Ancestry. 

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About the 2026 MDS International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders^®:
The MDS International Congress is the premier annual event to advance the clinical and scientific discipline of Movement Disorders, including Parkinson’s disease. Convening thousands of leading clinicians, scientists and other health professionals from around the globe, the International Congress will introduce more than 2,000 scientific abstracts and provide a forum for education and collaboration on latest research and treatment findings. 

About the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society: 
The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society^® (MDS), an international society of more than 12,000 clinicians, scientists, and other healthcare professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. For more information about MDS, visit www.movementdisorders.org.