Serum salusin-α and -β levels in patients with parkinson's disease

The etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not well known and there is increasing evidence that oxidative stress also plays an important role in its pathogenesis. Salusins alpha (salusin-α) and beta (salusin-β) affect the central nervous system, vasculature, and kidneys to increase the inflammatory response in endothelial cells, stimulate oxidative stress, and increase monocyte-endothelial adhesion. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress play roles in the etiopathogenesis of PD.

To investigate whether salusin-α and -β are related to PD and whether they are correlated with the development of atherosclerosis, body mass index, disease duration, and the Parkinson's Hoehn and Yahr stage.

The low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol, and salusin-β levels were significantly lower and age was significantly higher in Parkinson patients compared to healthy controls (ρ < 0.005). We found a negative linear correlation between salusin-β and the Hoehn and Yahr stage (ρ < 0.001, r = -0.515) in the patients.

There was a relationship between salusin-β and PD and a correlation between the salusin-β levels and Parkinson's stage. A possible underlying disease mechanism is an increase in oxidative stress and decrease in neuroprotective effects due to low salusin-β levels. Therefore, the effects of salusin-β in treating Parkinson disease should be evaluated. Further studies are needed to understand the effects of salusin-β treatment on preventing or slowing the course of PD.