Role of estrogen receptor beta in gonadal development and Parkinson’s disease

Research area

 |  Parkinson's disease

Keywords

 |  Parkinson's disease, sex reversal, testis, ERβ

Research group

 |  Sex Development, Centre for Endocrinology and Metabolism

Suitability

 |  PhD/Doctorate, Honours, Masters

Contact supervisors at any time

Professor Vincent Harley
e: vincent.harley@hudson.org.au

Project description

We have identified a sex-reversed XY female patient with early onset Parkinson’s disease (PD). Through whole exome sequencing, it was discovered that this patient harbours a missense mutation in the estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) gene, ESR2. Due to estrogen’s important functions in both sex determination and in neuroprotection, it is suggested that this mutation might have a function in both aspects of this patient’s unusual phenotype. This project will investigate the function of the ERβ variant in in vitro models of Parkinson’s disease and gonadal development.

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