Association of cerebrospinal fluid beta-amyloid 1-42, T-tau, P-tau(181), and alpha-synuclein levels with clinical features of drug-naive patients with early Parkinson disease

Ju-Hee Kang, David J Irwin, Alice S. Chen-Plotkin, Andrew Siderowf, Chelsea Caspell, Christopher S Coffey, Teresa Waligórska, Peggy Taylor, Sarah Pan, Mark Frasier, Kenneth Marek, Karl Kieburtz, Danna Jennings, Tanya Simuni, Caroline M. Tanner, Andrew B. Singleton, Arthur W Toga, Sohini Chowdhury, Brit Mollenhauer, John Q. TrojanowskiLeslie M Shaw, Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative, Dominic Rowe

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    Abstract

    IMPORTANCE: We observed a significant correlation between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of tau proteins and α-synuclein, but not β-amyloid 1-42 (Aβ1-42), and lower concentration of CSF biomarkers, as compared with healthy controls, in a cohort of entirely untreated patients with Parkinson disease (PD) at the earliest stage of the disease studied so far.

    OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the baseline characteristics and relationship to clinical features of CSF biomarkers (Aβ1-42, total tau [T-tau], tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 [P-tau181], and α-synuclein) in drug-naive patients with early PD and demographically matched healthy controls enrolled in the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study.

    DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional study of the initial 102 research volunteers (63 patients with PD and 39 healthy controls) of the PPMI cohort.

    MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The CSF biomarkers were measured by INNO-BIA AlzBio3 immunoassay (Aβ1-42, T-tau, and P-tau181; Innogenetics Inc) or by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (α-synuclein). Clinical features including diagnosis, demographic characteristics, motor, neuropsychiatric, and cognitive assessments, and DaTscan were systematically assessed according to the PPMI study protocol.

    RESULTS: Slightly, but significantly, lower levels of Aβ1-42, T-tau, P-tau181, α-synuclein, and T-tau/Aβ1-42 were seen in subjects with PD compared with healthy controls but with a marked overlap between groups. Using multivariate regression analysis, we found that lower Aβ1-42 and P-tau181 levels were associated with PD diagnosis and that decreased CSF T-tau and α-synuclein were associated with increased motor severity. Notably, when we classified patients with PD by their motor phenotypes, lower CSF Aβ1-42 and P-tau181 concentrations were associated with the postural instability-gait disturbance-dominant phenotype but not with the tremor-dominant or intermediate phenotype. Finally, we found a significant correlation of the levels of α-synuclein with the levels of T-tau and P-tau181.

    CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this first report of CSF biomarkers in PPMI study subjects,we found that measures of CSF Aβ1-42, T-tau, P-tau181, and α-synuclein have prognostic and diagnostic potential in early-stage PD. Further investigations using the entire PPMI cohort will test the predictive performance of CSF biomarkers for PD progression

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1277-87
    Number of pages11
    JournalJAMA Neurology
    Volume70
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2013

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