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Plasma GFAP and NfL associate with cerebral glucose metabolism in putative brain-first and body-first Parkinson's
Shiyu Li1, Fangyang Jiao2, Xiuyuan Li1
1Department of Neurology and National Research Center for Aging and Medicine & National Center for Neurological Disorders, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Abstract:
The recently proposed body-first and brain-first subtypes are classified based on the initial localization of α-synuclein inclusions. This study investigated plasma biomarkers and cerebral glucose metabolism characteristics in putative brain-first and body-first subtypes in PD subjects. PD patients without possible RBD (PDpRBD-) (n = 58) and with possible RBD symptoms discovered before motor symptoms (PDpRBD+) (n = 43) were recruited. Single-molecule array (SimoA) was used for measuring plasma biomarkers, including glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light chain (NfL), Tau and phosphorylated-tau 181 (pTau-181). All participants underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET scans. Compared to PDpRBD- patients, PDpRBD+ patients exhibited significantly increased plasma GFAP levels and reduced 18F-FDG uptake in cortical regions. Notably, plasma GFAP and NfL levels correlated with cerebral glucose metabolism in PDpRBD- patients. Our study identified the association between plasma GFAP and NfL levels and cerebral glucose metabolism in PDpRBD- patients. Further large-scale longitudinal studies are required.
