Dopamine Agonists Exert Nurrl-inducing Effect in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Patients with Parkinson＇s Disease

Background： Nurrl plays an essential role in the development, survival, and function maintenance ofmidbrain dopaminergic （DA） neurons, and it is a potential target for Parkinson＇s disease （PD）. Nurrl mRNA can be detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMCs）, but whether there is any association of altered Nurrl expression in PBMC with the disease and DA drug treatments remains elusive. This study aimed to measure the Nurrl mRNA level in PBMC and evaluate the effect of Nurrl expression by DA agents in vivo and in vitro. Methods： The mRNA levels of Nurrl in PBMC of four subgroups of 362 PD patients and 193 healthy controls （HCs） using real-time polymerase chain reaction were measured. The nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were performed to evaluate the differences between PD and HC, as well as the subgroups of PD. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent association of Nurrl expression with Hoehn and Yahr scale, age, and drug treatments. Besides, the Nurrl expression in cultured PBMC was measured to determine whether DA agonist pramipexole affects its mRNA level. Results： The relative Nurrl mRNA levels in DA agonists treated subgroup were significant higher than those in recent-onset cases without any anti-PD treatments （de novo） （P 〈 0.001 ） and HC groups （P 〈 0.010）, respectively. Furthermore, the increase in Nurr I mRNA expression was seen in DA agonist and L-dopa group. Multivariate linear regression showed DA agonists, L-dopa, and DA agonists were independent predictors correlated with Nurrl mRNA expression level in PBMC. In vitlv, in the cultured PBMC treated with 10 μmol/L pramipexole, the Nurrl mRNA levels were significantly increased by 99.61%, 71.75%, 73.16% in 2, 4, and 8 h, respectively （P 〈 0.001 ）. Conclusions： DA agonists can induce Nurrl expression in PBMC, and such effect may contribute to DA agonists-mediated neuroprotection on DA neurons.

Association Analysis of Proteasome Subunits and Transporter Associated with Antigen Processing on Chinese Patients with Parkinson＇s Disease

Background： Proteasome subunits （PSMB） and transporter associated with antigen processing （TAP） loci are located in the human leukocyte antigen （HLA） Class I1 region play important roles in immune response and protein degradation in neurodegenerative diseases. This study aimed to explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms （SNPs） of PSMB and TAP and Parkinson＇s disease （PD）. Methods： A case-control study was conducted by genotyping SNPs in PSMB8, PSMBg, TAP1, and TAP2 genes in the Chinese population. Subjects included 542 sporadic patients with PD and 674 healthy controls. Nine identified SNPs in PSMB8, PSMBg, TAP1, and TAP2 were genotyped through SNaPshot testing. Results： The stratified analysis ofrs 17587 was specially performed on gender. Data revealed that female patients carry a higher frequency of rsl7587-G/G versus （A/A ＋ G/A） compared with controls. But there was no significant difference with respect to the genotypic frequencies of the SNPs in PSMB8, TAP1, and TAP2 loci in PD patients. Conclusion： Chinese females carrying the rs 17587-G/G genotype in PSMB9 may increase a higher risk for PD, but no linkage was found between other SNPs in HLA Class II region and PD.

The biomarkers of immune dysregulation and inflammation response in Parkinson disease

Parkinson’s disease(PD)is referring to the multi-systemicα-synucleinopathy with Lewy bodies deposited in midbrain.In ageing,the environmental and genetic factors work together and overactive major histocompatibility complex pathway to regulate immune reactions in central nerve system which resulting in neural degeneration,especially in dopaminergic neurons.As a series of biomarkers,the human leukocyte antigen genes with its related proteomics play cortical roles on the antigen presentation of major histocompatibility complex molecules to stimulate the differentiation of T lymphocytes and i-proteasome activities under their immune response to the PD-related environmental alteration and genetic variation.Furthermore,dopaminergic drugs change the biological characteristic of T lymphatic cells,affect theα-synuclein presentation pathway,and inhibit T lymphatic cells to release cytotoxicity in PD development.Taking together,the serum inflammatory factors and blood T cells are involved in the immune dysregulation of PD and inspected as the potential clinic biomarkers for PD prediction.

Peripheral Lymphocyte Subsets as a Marker of Parkinson's Disease in a Chinese Population

In this study, we conducted a clinical analysis of lymphocyte subtypes in 268 patients with Parkinson＇s disease （PD） to assess their clinical impact as a potential marker of advanced PD in Chinese patients. The participants comprised 268 sporadic PD patients and 268 healthy controls. The numbers of natural killer （NK） cells and CD3＋, CD3＋CD4＋, CD3＋CD8＋, and CD19＋ lympho- cytes from peripheral blood were determined by immunos- taining and flow cytometric analysis and the percentages of these CD＋ T cells were calculated. The ratio of regulatory T （Treg）/helper T 17 （Thl7） lymphocytes from 64 PD patients and 46 controls was determined by flow cytometric analysis. The results showed that the percentage of NK cells was higher in advanced PD patients than in controls （22.92% ± 10.08% versus 19.76% ±10.09%, P= 0.006）, while CD3＋ T cells are decreased （62.93% ±9.27% versus 65.75% ± 9.13%, P = 0.005）. The percentage of CD19＋ B cells in male patients was lower （P = 0.021） than in female patients, whereas NK cells were increased （P 〈 0.0001）. The scores on the Unified Parkinson＇s Disease Rating Scale （UPDRS） and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale in late-onset PD patients were significantly higher than those in earlyonset patients （P = 0.024 and P = 0.007, respectively）. The percentage of CD19＋ B cells in patients with UPDRS scores 〉24 was lower than in those with scores 〈24 （10.17% ± 4.19% versus 12.22% ± 5.39%, P = 0.009）. In addition, the Treg/Th17 ratio in female patients was higher than that in female controls （13.88 ± 6.32 versus 9.94 ±4.06, P = 0.042）. These results suggest that the percentages of NK cells, CD3＋ T cells, and CD19＋ B cells along with the Treg/Th17 ratio in peripheral blood may be used to predict the risk of PD in Chinese individuals and provide fresh avenues for novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic designs.