PINK1 and Parkinson disease: In regards to PD, recent studies have identified lncRNAs that may alter the expression of PD-linked genes, such as PINK1, UCH-L1, LRRK2, and SNCA. In particular, NaPINK1, a human-specific lncRNA transcribed from the antisense orientation of the PINK1 locus was found to stabilize PINK1 expression and its silencing resulted in decreased PINK1 expression in neurons (Scheele et al., 2007; Chiba et al., 2009).