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Is there a role for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in Parkinson's disease?

Giannina Arru1, Elisa Caggiu2, Kai Paulus3

  • 1Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Sezione di Microbiologia e Virologia, Università di Sassari, Italy; Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università di Sassari, Viale San Pietro 43b, 07100 Sassari, Italy.

Journal of Neuroimmunology
|April 7, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Parkinson's disease (PD) may involve Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection. While MAP infection was detected in PD patients, evidence for antibody cross-reactivity with human ZnT proteins was not found.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Immunology
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Zinc transporter (ZnT) proteins are crucial in Parkinson's disease (PD).
  • The role of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infections in PD is unknown.
  • Zinc acts as a cofactor for enzymes and stabilizes protein structures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if MAP infection can trigger antibody production that cross-reacts with ZnT homologous antigenic peptides in Parkinson's disease.
  • To evaluate the humoral response towards MAP3865c peptides, ZnT3, and ZnT10.

Main Methods:

  • Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect MAP presence in PD patients.
  • Humoral response to MAP3865c peptides and ZnT3/ZnT10 was assessed.

Main Results:

  • MAP was detected in Parkinson's disease patients via PCR.
  • Positivity for MAP3865c peptides was observed in PD patients.
  • No cross-reactivity was confirmed between MAP peptides and human ZnT proteins.

Conclusions:

  • MAP infection is present in Parkinson's disease patients.
  • The study did not find evidence supporting cross-reactivity between MAP and human ZnT proteins in PD.
  • Further research is needed to clarify the role of MAP in PD pathogenesis.
Keywords:
Antigenic peptidesAutoimmunityMAPParkinson's diseaseZnT proteins

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