Bandopadhyay and colleagues studied the distribution of DJ-1 in the human brain [50] and found that, while DJ-1 is not an essential component of LBs and Lewy neurites, it is highly expressed in astrocytes in the frontal cortex and substantia nigra of idiopathic PD brains, PD subjects with DJ-1 R98Q polymorphisms, and normal controls. This evidence concerns the gene PARK7 and Parkinson disease.