Plasma cytokines profile in patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease: a comparative study in terms of inflammation

Abstract

Background

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease inflict economic and health burdens on societies. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most prevalent form of dementia, is accompanied by progressive degradation of memory, decision-making, and judgment. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and loss of balance. Extensive research has pinpointed inflammation as a cause of the onset and progression of both diseases. However, it has not been confirmed which one is more formidable in terms of inflammation.

Methods

To assess the extent of inflammation that is implicated in AD and PD and answer the question of which one is more inflammatory, serum levels of inflammatory biomarkers, including cytokines, chemokines, and prostaglandin E2 (PEG2), were measured in AD and PD patients as well as a healthy group.

Results

Our results showed a significant increase in IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, IP-10, MCP-1, PEG2, and TNF-α in AD and PD patients compared with the control. Interestingly, IFN-γ did not manifest any significant difference in AD or PD patients compared with the control.

Conclusion

As a hallmark of our results, it could be inferred that inflammation, as the underlying etiological cause, plays a more crucial role in PD compared with AD. Based on our results, it is proposed that anti-inflammatory remedies would be putatively more effective in PD rather than AD.

Keywords:

• Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
• Parkinson’s disease (PD)
• inflammation
• cytokines
• prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)

Acknowledgement

We wish to sincerely thank Dr. Ali Kharazian, the head of Pars Teb Clinical Laboratory, for providing us with the control samples. We are also extremely grateful to Mrs. Azam Daraee, a senior laboratory technician of Clinical biochemistry at SBMU.

Ethics approval

The present study was conducted under the approval of the Ethics Committee of SBMU (Reference No: IR.SBMU.MSP.REC.1395.603) and in accordance with ethical principles mentioned in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Consent to participate

Prior to enrollment, written informed consent (ICF) was obtained from AD and PD patients/relatives.

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception, design, Material preparation, data collection and analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Availability of data and material

Data are available via requests directed to the corresponding author

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from the research council of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (grant number: SBMU18658-11) is acknowledged. Funding is provided by research council of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science (SBMU).