Serological Analysis of Alpha-synuclein and NF-κB in Parkinson's Disease Patients

Several investigations have been made to determine the level of alpha-synuclein in the peripheral blood of Parkinson's disease patients, but the results were very contradictory and inconclusive. Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) was also found to be involved in Parkinson's disease, but there is a lack of studies investigating NF-κB in Parkinson's disease patients. As far as our knowledge goes, no study reported the level of NF-κB in serum of Parkinson's disease patients. In this context, present study was designed to make a baseline study in order to evaluate the levels of total alpha-synuclein and NF-κB in serum of Parkinson's disease patients.

Serum samples were collected from Parkinson's disease patients (n=97) and healthy controls (n=97). Their levels were determined by using Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.

The levels of total alpha-synuclein (patients=5.79±2.24 ng/ml, controls=6.20±1.61 ng/ml; p=0.14) and NF-κB (patients=1.38±0.99 ng/ml, controls=1.65±1.00 ng/ml; p=0.71) were lower in Parkinson's disease patients than controls, but the differences were not statistically significant. This difference was also failed to reach significance between males (alpha-synuclein (p)=0.70, NF-κB (p)=0.84) and females (alpha-synuclein (p)=0.06, NF-κB (p)=0.77) in both the groups as well as within the groups. The levels of total alpha-synuclein and NF-κB were also not associated with Parkinson's disease severity (alpha-synuclein (p) = 0.84, NF-κB (p) = 0.73).

A non-significant difference in the levels of total alpha-synuclein and NF-κB between Parkinson's disease patients and controls suggested that these are not valuable biomarkers for Parkinson's disease, more specifically in Indian population.