Abstract
MicroRNAs are reportedly involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy. We previously identified 7 differentially expressed microRNAs in Parkinson's disease patients and control sera (miR-30c, miR-31, miR-141, miR-146b-5p, miR-181c, miR-214, and miR-193a-3p). To investigate the expression levels of the 7 serum microRNAs in Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy, 23 early Parkinson's disease patients (who did not take any anti- Parkinson's disease drugs), 23 multiple system atrophy patients, and 24 normal controls were recruited at outpatient visits in this study. The expression levels of the 7 microRNAs in serum were detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate whether microRNAs can differentially diagnose Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy. Clinical scales were used to analyze the correlations between serum microRNAs and clinical features. The results indicated that miR-214 could distinguish Parkinson's disease from the controls, and another 3 microRNAs could differentiate multiple system atrophy from the controls (miR-141, miR-193a-3p, and miR-30c). The expression of miR-31, miR-141, miR-181c, miR-193a-3p, and miR-214 were lower in multiple system atrophy than in Parkinson's disease (all P < 0.05). Combinations of microRNAs accurately discriminated Parkinson's disease from multiple system atrophy (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.951). For the correlation analysis, negative correlations were discovered between the expression of miR-214 and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Parkinson's Disease Non-Motor Symptom scores (all P < 0.05). Our results demonstrate that the distinctive characteristics of microRNAs differentiate Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy patients from healthy controls and may be used for the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy.
Highlights
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease in middle-aged and older people
We previously identified 7 differentially expressed miRNAs in PD patient and control sera, and the levels of these 7 miRNAs in serum were significantly lower in the PD patient group than in the control group (Dong et al, 2016)
The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction results showed that of the 7 miRNAs (Table S1), the expression of miR-214 in serum was significantly higher compared with the control group (P < 0.05, Fig. 1A)
Summary
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease in middle-aged and older people. The clinical diagnosis of PD is mainly through the evaluation of medical history, physical examination, imaging examination, and evaluation of the response of levodopa and other drugs, but symptoms and signs occur only when up to 80% of dopamine deficiency occur in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra (Emamzadeh and Surguchov, 2018; Lotankar et al, 2017). Searching for biomarkers that can distinguish PD from other diseases with higher sensitivity and specificity is necessary, and fully tracking the progression of PD is preferable. In this way can we diagnose PD early
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