MicroRNAs in Cerebrospinal Fluid as Potential Biomarkers for Parkinson's Disease and Multiple System Atrophy

Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) are both part of the spectrum of neurodegenerative movement disorders and α-synucleinopathies with overlap of symptoms especially at early stages of the disease but with distinct disease progression and responses to dopaminergic treatment. Therefore, having biomarkers that specifically classify patients, which could discriminate PD from MSA, would be very useful. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate protein translation and are observed in biological fluids, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and may therefore have potential as biomarkers of disease. The aim of our study was to determine if miRNAs in CSF could be used as biomarkers for either PD or MSA. Using quantitative PCR (qPCR), we evaluated expression levels of 10 miRNAs in CSF patient samples from PD (n = 28), MSA (n = 17), and non-neurological controls (n = 28). We identified two miRNAs (miR-24 and miR-205) that distinguished PD from controls and four miRNAs that differentiated MSA from controls (miR-19a, miR-19b, miR-24, and miR-34c). Combinations of miRNAs accurately discriminated either PD (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.96) or MSA (AUC = 0.86) from controls. In MSA, we also observed that miR-24 and miR-148b correlated with cerebellar ataxia symptoms, suggesting that these miRNAs are involved in cerebellar degeneration in MSA. Our findings support the potential of miRNA panels as biomarkers for movement disorders and may provide more insights into the pathological mechanisms related to these disorders.