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Updated: Mar 24, 2026
A Simple Bioassay for the Evaluation of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
Published on: March 15, 2016
Natural Killer Subset Changes and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A Plasma Profile in Progressive Supranuclear
Marina Picillo1,2, Cristina Basile3, Francesco Montella4
1Neuroscience Section, Department of Medicine and Surgery "Scuola Medica Salernitana", University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy.
Background:
Emerging evidence implicates neuroinflammation in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) pathophysiology, with elevated cyto-chemokines suggesting natural killer (NK) cell involvement.
Methods:
We characterized peripheral NK in PSP (N = 11) versus Parkinson's disease (PD, N = 10) and healthy controls (HC, N = 8) at both immunophenotypic and transcriptional levels.
Results:
PSP patients showed significantly reduced CD3-CD56 + NK frequency (1.35% ± 0.98%) compared with HC (2.96% ± 1.14%) and PD (2.03% ± 0.86%), specifically affecting the immunoregulatory CD56brightCD16-/dim subset. PSP NK cells exhibited elevated CX3CR1 expression, suggesting enhanced migratory capacity toward inflamed tissues. Transcriptomic analysis of primary NK cells revealed 208 DEG with significant enrichment in angiogenesis pathways, particularly vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). Plasma VEGF-A measurements demonstrated a disease-specific pattern: inverse correlation with severity in PSP versus direct correlation in PD.
Conclusions:
These findings identify a potentially disease-specific transcriptional signature with repercussions on the cyto-chemokine plasma profile. Further investigation of the NK cell-mediated immune response in PSP may provide new insights into disease mechanisms and open avenues for immunomodulatory therapeutic strategies. © 2026 The Author(s). Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
