title: Hepatitis C virus infection: a risk factor for Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Recent studies found that hepatitis C virus (HCV) may invade the central nervous system, and both HCV and Parkinson's disease (PD) have in common the overexpression of inflammatory biomarkers. We analysed data from a community-based integrated screening programme based on a total of 62,276 subjects. We used logistic regression models to investigate association between HCV infection and PD. The neurotoxicity of HCV was evaluated in the midbrain neuron-glia coculture system in rats. The cytokine/chemokine array was performed to measure the differences of amounts of cytokines released from midbrain in the presence and absence of HCV. The crude odds ratios (ORs) for having PD were 0.62 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.48-0.81] and 1.91 (95% CI, 1.48-2.47) for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HCV. After controlling for potential confounders, the association between HCV and PD remained statistically significant (adjusted OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.07-1.80), but not significantly different between HBV and PD. The HCV induced 60% dopaminergic neuron death in the midbrain neuron-glia coculture system in rats, similar to that of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+) ) but not caused by HBV. This link was further supported by the finding that HCV infection may release the inflammatory cytokines, which may play a role in the pathogenesis of PD. In conclusion, our study demonstrated a significantly positive epidemiological association between HCV infection and PD and corroborated the dopaminergic toxicity of HCV similar to that of MPP(+) .
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W Y-Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: K-H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: School of Oral Hygiene, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: S L-S
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department and Graduate Institute of Health Care Management, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: S Y-H
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: School of Oral Hygiene, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: A M-F
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Industry Management, School of Health Care Management, Kainan University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: J C-Y
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fann
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C-W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C-Z
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W-M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Pharmacology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Liou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000821:virology; D009474:Neurons / Q000821:virology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: Parkinson's disease; community; hepatitis C; neurotoxicity; risk factor