DNA versus RNA oxidation in Parkinson's disease: Which is more important?

8-hydroxy-2 deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and the 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHG) are the most widely used biomarkers of nucleoside oxidation affecting DNA and RNA and are considered reliable markers of oxidative stress. Increased levels of these markers are found in the various biological fluids of patients with neurodegenerative disorders.

The primary aim of our study was to assess the differences of investigated markers between patient groups and subsequently study the influence of clinical factors that might modify the levels of investigated markers during the disease progression.

In this study, we analysed the 8-OHdG and 8-OHG levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum from 44 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 32 controls using an ELISA.

There were significantly higher CSF levels of both investigated markers in Parkinson's disease patients as compared to controls (p=0.02 and p=0.04). Significantly higher CSF values of 8-OHdG were found in PD patients without dementia (p=0.05), whereas patients with dementia recorded lower 8-OHG CSF levels compared to controls (p=0.04). The disease duration and age influenced the levels of both markers within investigated groups.

Oxidative DNA damage plays an important role in the early stages of PD, whereas during the progression of the disease the process is more complex, and other mechanisms are in the foreground. The measurement of 8-OHdG might be used as an "early-stage marker", whereas the decrease of 8-OHG in CSF might reflect the degree of neurodegeneration during the disease progression, suggesting its utility as a prognostic marker of advanced PD stages.