Association Analysis of Proteasome Subunits and Transporter Associated with Antigen Processing on Chinese Patients with Parkinson's Disease / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Proteasome subunits (PSMB) and transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) loci are located in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class II 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).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A case-control study was conducted by genotyping SNPs in PSMB8, PSMB9, TAP1, and TAP2 genes in the Chinese population. Subjects included 542 sporadic patients with PD and 674 healthy controls. Nine identified SNPs in PSMB8, PSMB9, TAP1, and TAP2 were genotyped through SNaPshot testing.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The stratified analysis of rs17587 was specially performed on gender. Data revealed that female patients carry a higher frequency of rs17587-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.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Chinese females carrying the rs17587-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.</p>

Dopamine Agonists Exert Nurr1-inducing Effect in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Patients with Parkinson's Disease / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Nurr1 plays an essential role in the development, survival, and function maintenance of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons, and it is a potential target for Parkinson's disease (PD). Nurr1 mRNA can be detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), but whether there is any association of altered Nurr1 expression in PBMC with the disease and DA drug treatments remains elusive. This study aimed to measure the Nurr1 mRNA level in PBMC and evaluate the effect of Nurr1 expression by DA agents in vivo and in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The mRNA levels of Nurr1 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 Nurr1 expression with Hoehn and Yahr scale, age, and drug treatments. Besides, the Nurr1 expression in cultured PBMC was measured to determine whether DA agonist pramipexole affects its mRNA level.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The relative Nurr1 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 Nurr1 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 Nurr1 mRNA expression level in PBMC. In vitro, in the cultured PBMC treated with 10 μmol/L pramipexole, the Nurr1 mRNA levels were significantly increased by 99.61%, 71.75%, 73.16% in 2, 4, and 8 h, respectively (P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>DA agonists can induce Nurr1 expression in PBMC, and such effect may contribute to DA agonists-mediated neuroprotection on DA neurons.</p>