title: Lymphomonocyte alpha-synuclein levels in aging and in Parkinson disease.
abstract: In this study we employed an ELISA assay to measure alpha-synuclein protein in lymphomonocytes from 78 PD patients and 78 controls. We correlated protein levels with demographic and clinical characteristics and with the chymotryptic and tryptic activities of the 20S proteasome. Alpha-synuclein levels were not significantly different between patients and controls. In control subjects, alpha-synuclein protein levels increased significantly with age and were significantly higher in men compared to women. Proteasome activity was not significantly different between cases and controls. In control group, the 20S chymotryptic activity tended to decrease significantly with increasing age, though it was not correlated to alpha-synuclein levels. The 20S tryptic activity was not significantly correlated to age, but was inversely correlated to alpha-synuclein levels. Our findings suggest that alpha-synuclein levels in lymphomonocytes are affected by age, gender, and by the 20S proteasome activity in control subjects, but they are not useful as a diagnostic biomarker for PD.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Technologies, University of Milano-Bicocca, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy. brighinalaura@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brighina
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prigione
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Begni
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galbussera
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andreoni
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Piolti
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferrarese
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000378:metabolism; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex