Tau and Amyloid-β Peptides in Serum of Patients With Parkinson's Disease: Correlations With CSF Levels and Clinical Parameters.

Tommaso Schirinzi,Piergiorgio Grillo,Gisella Guerrera,Roberta Bovenzi,Sergio Bernardini,Giulia Maria Sancesario,Francesca Gargano,Massimo Pieri,Henri Zenuni,Nicola Biagio Mercuri,Luca Battistini

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.748599

Tommaso Schirinzi, Piergiorgio Grillo + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.748599

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Abstract

Relevance of blood-based biomarkers is increasing into the neurodegenerative diseases field, but data on Parkinson's disease (PD) remain still scarce. In this study, we used the SiMoA technique to measure serum content of total tau protein and amyloid-β peptides (Aβ-42, Aβ-40) in 22 PD patients and ten control subjects. Serum levels of each biomarker were correlated with the respective CSF levels in both the groups; in PD patients, also the correlations between serum biomarkers and main clinical parameters were tested (motor, non-motor, cognitive scores and levodopa equivalent daily dose). Serum biomarkers did not exhibit quantitative differences between patients and controls; however, only PD patients had inter-fluids (serum-CSF) associations in tau and amyloid-β-42 levels. Moreover, serum content of tau protein was inversely correlated with cognitive performances (MoCA score). These findings, albeit preliminary, indicate that brain-derived peptides may change in parallel in both peripheral blood and CSF of PD patients, eventually even in association with some clinical features. Further studies are now needed to validate the use of blood-based biomarkers in PD.

Highlights

One of the most urgent needs for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is identification of biomarkers to early diagnose, stratify, and accurately follow-up patients in both interventional and observational frames [1,2,3].Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), because of proximity with the brain, mirrors neuropathological changes, representing an ideal source for reliable disease biomarkers
No differences resulted between PD and controls in both serum and CSF biomarkers
In the PD group, serum t-tau is directly correlated with both CSF t-tau [F(1, 9) = 16.9, p = 0.003, R2 = 0.7] (B = 0.001, p = 0.003) and p-tau [F(1, 9) = 8.2, p < 0.01, R2 = 0.47] (B = 0.007, p < 0.01); serum Aβ42 is directly correlated with CSF Aβ42 [F(1, 9) = 3.9, p = 0.05, R2 =0.3] (B = 0.005, p = 0.05) (Figure 1); serum Aβ40 is not correlated with CSF Aβ40; serum Aβ42/Aβ40

Summary

Introduction

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), because of proximity with the brain, mirrors neuropathological changes, representing an ideal source for reliable disease biomarkers. In PD, levels of neurodegeneration-related CSF biomarkers, namely, α-synuclein (α-syn), amyloid-β42 (Aβ42), total tau (t-tau), and phosphorylated-181-tau (p-tau), may have either diagnostic or prognostic value [2,3,4,5]. Especially in dementia field, are moving the attention on venous blood as a valuable and accessible source of biomarkers, Serum Tau and Amyloid-β Peptides in PD rather satisfactory in terms of diagnostic accuracy [8]. Data regarding PD are, instead, still scarce, and clinical values of brainderived peptides, commonly measured in CSF, have not been tested and validated yet in serums of patients with PD

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