Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common form of movement disorder and affects approximately 4% of the population aged over 80 years old. Currently, PD cannot be prevented or cured, and no single diagnostic biomarkers are available. Notably, recent studies suggest that two familial PD-linked molecules, α-synuclein and DJ-1, are present in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and that their levels may be altered during the progression of PD. In this regard, sensitive and accurate methods for evaluation of α-synuclein and DJ-1 levels in the CSF and blood have been developed, and the results suggest that the levels of both molecules are significantly decreased in the CSF in patients with PD compared with age-matched controls. Furthermore, specific detection and quantification of neurotoxic oligometric forms of α-synuclein in the blood using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays might be expected as potential peripheral biomarkers for PD, although further validation is required. Currently, neither α-synuclein nor DJ-1 is satisfactory as a single biomarker for PD, but combinatory evaluation of these biological fluid molecules with other biomarkers and imaging techniques may provide reliable information for diagnosis of PD.
Highlights
Biological fluid biomarkers in blood samples, urine and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are measurable markers of underlying disease
This study elegantly demonstrated that CSF -synuclein levels are decreased in Parkinson’s disease (PD) cases compared to non-PD controls and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) cases, there was no correlation with the severity of the disease
Consistent with this, we observed that both monomer and aggregates of DJ-1 were abundantly present in the CSF, and our semi-quantitative immunoblot analysis revealed that CSF-1 DJ-1 monomer levels were significantly increased in PD
Summary
Biological fluid biomarkers in blood samples, urine and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are measurable markers of underlying disease. Blood hemoglobin A1c is commonly used for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and for predicting and monitoring the severity of cardiovascular events [2] In neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), alterations of amyloidogenic proteins, including -amyloid and tau, have been widely investigated. Advance of neuroimaging methods, such as a high field MRI showing increased iron content in the substantia nigra [4,5], [123I]-meta-iodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy [6], and PET [7], could be useful for the diagnosis of early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD). These examinations are generally expensive and are not available in all hospitals.
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