Taking into account that few studies directly link purinergic receptors with genetic predisposition to PD, the P2X7R 1513A>C polymorphism that facilitates pore formation by P2X7 receptor activation and leads to cell death (Gu et al., 2001) was shown to be a risk factor in sporadic PD in a Han Chinese population (Liu et al., 2013). Here, P2RX3 is linked to Parkinson disease.