Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| [b] Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital North affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| [c] CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Prof. Jun Liu, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No.197, Ruijin Second Road, Shanghai 200025, China. E-mail: jly0520@hotmail.com.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: Background:α-Synuclein has been related to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), but it has not thoroughly been investigated in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD). Objective:We aimed to explore whether there were different distributions of α-synuclein at a genetic and/or protein level in patients with iRBD. Methods:We included 30 patients with iRBD, 30 patients with PD, and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) in this study. The SNCA methylation and mRNA levels were determined using bisulfite sequencing and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The plasma levels of exosome α-synuclein were measured using Meso Scale Discovery. Results:SNCA methylation showed different distribution among HC, iRBD and PD groups (HC vs RBD: p = 0.011; HC vs PD: p < 0.001; RBD vs PD: p = 0.027). However, plasma exosomal α-synuclein levels were only elevated in patients with PD compared to those in HCs (p = 0.027), and were associated with the SNCA methylation only in the PD group (p = 0.030, r = –0.397). Conclusion:SNCA hypomethylation in leukocytes existed both in patients with iRBD and those with PD, indicating that SNCA methylation could be a potential biomarker for early PD diagnosis.
