PINK1 and Parkinson disease: Genetic studies, particularly genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have observed several autophagy-associated genes as risk factors in PD, including α-syn-encoding gene (SNCA), leucine-rich repeat sequence kinase 2 (LRRK2), Parkin RBR E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase (PARK2, Parkin), Parkinson protein 7 (PARK7, DJ-1), and PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1)[9].