Combined Assessment of Serum Alpha-Synuclein and Rab35 is a Better Biomarker for Parkinson's Disease

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: It is essential to develop a reliable predictive serum biomarker for Parkinson's disease (PD). The accumulation of alpha-synuclein (αSyn) and up-regulated expression of Rab35 participate in the etiology of PD. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the combined assessment of serum αSyn and Rab35 is a useful predictive biomarker for PD. METHODS: Serum levels of αSyn or Rab35 were determined in serum samples from 59 sporadic PD patients, 19 progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients, 20 multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients, and 60 normal controls (NC). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were calculated to determine the diagnostic accuracy of αSyn or/and Rab35 in discriminating PD patients from NC or atypical parkinsonian patients. RESULTS: The levels of αSyn and Rab35 were increased in PD patients. The serum level of Rab35 was positively correlated with that of αSyn in PD patients. Compared to analyzing αSyn or Rab35 alone, the combined analysis of αSyn and Rab35 produced a larger area under the ROC curve and performed better in discriminating PD patients from NC, MSA patients, or PSP patients. When age was dichotomized at 55, 60, 65, or 70 years, the combined assessment of αSyn and Rab35 for classifying PD was better in the group below the cutoff age than in the group above the cutoff age. CONCLUSIONS: Combined assessment of serum αSyn and Rab35 is a better biomarker for discriminating PD patients from NC or atypical parkinsonian patients, and is a useful predictive biomarker for younger sporadic PD patients.

Study on the correlation between HIV drug resistance and CD4+ T-lymphocyte of AIDS patients under antiretroviral treatment in Henan province / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To study the correlation between genotype drug resistance and CD4+ T-lymphocyte of AIDS patients who received antiretroviral treatment in Henan province. Methods Several indicators were studied through questionnaires and whole blood was collected to analyze CD4+ T-lymphocyte as well as the virus load. In-House technique was used to detect the genotype drug resistance. Results 32.21% and 29.17% of the patients were identified as genotype drug resistant to AIDS when used first and second generation medicine schemes but the improvement (P=0.7538) of disease process was not influenced much. However, if the genotype drug resistance of patients with HAART last longer than two years (33.20%) or patients with HAART less than one year (18.97%), a greater impact on the improvement was noticed. Age (OR=0.68) and the interval on distribution of medicines (OR=1.93) had a great impact on the improvement with the genotype drug resistance through logistic regression analysis. Medicine scheme (OR=0.51), genotype drug resistance (OR=3.20) and the rate of regular dose in a month (OR=0.51) all had a great impact on the improvement to CD4+ T-lymphocyte by logistic regression analysis. Conclusion Part of HIV/AIDS patients showed resistant to genotype drugs in Henan province, suggesting that we must reinforce the surveillance on HAART and program on drug administration to the patients, in order to increase the number of CD4+ T-lymphocyte so as to avoid the development of drug resistance.