Several genetic risk factors for PD, such as DJ-1, parkin and PINK-1, have been implicated in astrocytic function (Hayashi et al., 2000; Bandopadhyay et al., 2004; Neumann et al., 2004; Solano et al., 2008; Choi et al., 2013, 2016; Kim et al., 2016), suggesting a role for astrocytes in PD pathogenesis. The gene discussed is PRKN; the disease is Parkinson disease.