EGR1 and Parkinson disease: In accordance with the next-generation sequencing results from the PD discovery cohort, we could confirm by qRT-PCR in a separate validation cohort of 14 PD patients and 13 controls the highly significant downregulation of six mRNAs: JUN, EGR1, DUSP1, RHOB, FOS, NFKBIZ and a tendency for downregulation for FOSB (Fig. 2e).