A clinical observation of the influence of deep brain stimulation on peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Objective To study the changing in number of peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) after deep brain stimulation (DBS), and to explore the mechanism of DBS in treating PD. Methods One hundred and thirty PD patients were divided into 2 groups, namely, non-DBS group [N = 105; 68 males and 37 females; mean age (61.54 ± 10.44) years; mean duration (7.29 ± 4.57) years], and DBS group [N = 25; 16 males and 9 females; mean age (59.20 ± 10.67) years; mean disease duration (12.16 ± 4.79) years]. There were 73 healthy subjects [37 males and 36 females; mean age (61.89 ± 12.20) years] in control group. The differences of the number of PBL among the 3 groups were analyzed. Spearman's rank correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between PBL number and influenzing factors [gender, age, disease duration, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Ⅲ score, Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) stage, and drug equivalent daily dose]. Results The number of PBL in non-DBS group was less than that in control group ( P = 0.000). There was significant correlation between UPDRS Ⅲ and PBL number ( rs = ⁃ 0.403, P = 0.031). No correlation was found between PBL number and gender, age, disease duration, H-Y stage or drug equivalent daily dose ( P > 0.05, for all). No difference was shown between PBL number in control group and in DBS group ( P = 0.137) and no correlations were found with clinical variables ( P > 0.05). The PBL number in non-DBS group was less than that in DBS group ( P = 0.006). With the same H-Y stage, PBL number in non-DBS group was also less than that in DBS group in Mann-Whitney U test (H-Y 2.5: Z = ⁃ 2.197, P = 0.043; H-Y 3: Z = ⁃ 1.875, P = 0.027; H-Y 4: Z = ⁃ 3.760, P = 0.016). Conclusion The changing in the number of PBL is the specific feature of PD and may be correlated with the immuno-inflammation of central nervous system, which may be relieved by DBS.