Abstract
Among the neurodegenerative disorders, Parkinson's disease (PD) ranks as the second most common disorder with a higher prevalence in individuals aged over 60 years old. Younger individuals may also be affected with PD which is known as early onset PD (EOPD). Despite similarities between the characteristics of EOPD and late onset PD (LODP), EOPD patients experience much longer disease manifestations and poorer quality of life. Although some individuals are more prone to have EOPD due to certain genetic alterations, the molecular mechanisms that differentiate between EOPD and LOPD remains unclear. Recent findings in PD patients revealed that there were differences in the genetic profiles of PD patients compared to healthy controls, as well as between EOPD and LOPD patients. There were variants identified that correlated with the decline of cognitive and motor symptoms as well as non-motor symptoms in PD. There were also specific microRNAs that correlated with PD progression, and since microRNAs have been shown to be involved in the maintenance of neuronal development, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, there is a strong possibility that these microRNAs can be potentially used to differentiate between subsets of PD patients. PD is mainly diagnosed at the late stage, when almost majority of the dopaminergic neurons are lost. Therefore, identification of molecular biomarkers for early detection of PD is important. Given that miRNAs are crucial in controlling the gene expression, these regulatory microRNAs and their target genes could be used as biomarkers for early diagnosis of PD. In this article, we discussed the genes involved and their regulatory miRNAs, regarding their roles in PD progression, based on the findings of significantly altered microRNAs in EOPD studies. We also discussed the potential of these miRNAs as molecular biomarkers for early diagnosis.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with an approximate incidence of 1:800–1,000 in subjects aged over 60 years old (Bekris et al, 2010; Lin and Farrer, 2014)
The fact that its expression was increased in early onset PD (EOPD) (Cardo et al, 2013) and never been implicated in late onset PD (LOPD) studies, these findings imply that miR-331 has a strong potential as a biomarker for EOPD, though further information and studies are needed to validate its role and relationship in PD
As miRNAs are shown to regulate important genes such as PRKN, PARK7, PINK1, SNCA, and others genes in early event of PD progression, they could potentially be harnessed as biomarkers to diagnose EOPD and possibly to improve the management of PD
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with an approximate incidence of 1:800–1,000 in subjects aged over 60 years old (Bekris et al, 2010; Lin and Farrer, 2014). MiR-7116 was not implicated with EOPD or LOPD studies (Table 1), yet TNFα itself can regulates other miRNAs that are known regulators for mitochondrial function and subsequently can contribute to oxidative stress and apoptosis (Prajapati et al, 2015).
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