Cerebrospinal Fluid Cytokines and Neurodegeneration-Associated Proteins in Parkinson's Disease.

Abstract

Introduction- Immune markers are altered in Parkinson’s disease (PD), but relationships between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma cytokines, and associations with neurodegeneration-associated proteins remain unclear. Methods- CSF and plasma samples and demographic/clinical measures were obtained from 35 PD patients. CSF samples were analysed for cytokines (together with plasma), and for alpha-synuclein, amyloid beta(1-42) peptide, total tau and phospho(Thr231)-tau. Results- There were no CSF-plasma cytokine correlations. IL-8 was higher and IFN-γ, IL-10 and TNF-α were lower in CSF versus plasma. In CSF, total tau correlated positively with IL-8 and IL-1β, while alpha-synuclein correlated positively with amyloid beta(1-42) and negatively with semantic fluency (known marker of PD dementia risk). Discussion- CSF and peripheral cytokine profiles in PD are not closely related. Associations between CSF IL-8 and IL-1β, and tau suggest CSF inflammatory changes may relate to tau pathology within PD. CSF alpha-synuclein/amyloid beta may reflect the risk of developing PD dementia.