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Besides clinical and imaging techniques, there is a lack of molecular makers for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). There is an immense need to develop biomarkers associated with the phenotypes which may be valuable for individualized treatment. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (PARK2: Ser167Asn (G>A) and Val380Leu (G>C); PARK7: IVS4 + 46G>A and IVS4 + 30T>G) in PD-related genes were examined to elucidate its relationship with concentration of serum elements and clinical symptoms of PD. A total of 214 PD patients and 213 controls from Indian population were genotyped using PCR and DNA sequencing methods. The serum element concentrations were detected and clinical symptoms were determined based on UPDRS scale and recorded at the time of sample collection. The IVS4 + 30T>G, Ser167Asn (G>A) and Val380Leu (G>C) polymorphisms appeared to alter element concentrations in PD. The patients with Ser167Asn polymorphism showed significant association with copper, iron and zinc that reinforces the role of A allele as a factor for change in the concentrations of elements, than those patients with G allele. In particular, patients with A allele of Ser167Asn have risk of having high serum iron concentration (OR 11.55, 95% CI 5.59–23.85), which are associated with dementia and postural imbalance. Similar results were observed for Val380Leu (G>C) and IVS4 + 30T>G polymorphisms which suggest their role in element concentration and neurological symptoms. Overall, our study demonstrates the influence of polymorphisms of PD genes on element concentrations and clinical symptoms. Results of this study may be taken into account when considering the contributing factors for PD symptoms.

Metalloproteins utilizes cellular metals which plays a crucial function in brain that linked with neurodegenerative disorders. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects geriatric population world-wide. Twenty-four metal-binding protein networks were investigated to identify key regulating protein hubs in PD blood and brain. Amongst, aluminum, calcium, copper, iron, and magnesium protein hubs are the key regulators showing the ability to classify PD from control based on thirty-four classification algorithms. Analysis of these five metal proteins hubs showed involvement in environmental information processing, immune, neuronal, endocrine, aging, and signal transduction pathways. Furthermore, gene expression of functional protein in each hub showed significant upregulation of EFEMP2, MMP9, B2M, MEAF2A, and TARDBP in PD. Dysregulating hub proteins imprint the metal availability in a biological system. Hence, metal concentration in serum and cerebrospinal fluid were tested, which were altered and showed significant contribution towards gene expression of metal hub proteins along with the previously reported PD markers. In conclusion, analyzing the levels of serum metals along with the gene expression in PD opens up an ideal and feasible diagnostic intervention for PD. Hence, this will be a cost effective and rapid method for the detection of Parkinson’s disease.

Aim was to analyze predictors of burden among primary caregivers (CGs) of Indian Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. 150 PD patients were administered using Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr Scale (H&Y), Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Score (MADRS) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) in this cross-sectional evaluation study. CG burden was assessed by Caregiver's Burden Scale (CBS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), SF-36 and 20-item Burden Assessment Schedule (BAS). Linear regression methods were used to evaluate factors contributing to burden and stress. Mean age of CG was 50.38±16.04 (range: 25-83 yrs). Marital status of CGs was noted to have significant relationship with CBS score (F=9.525, P

Depression and cognitive impairment are frequent manifestations in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Although a few longitudinal studies have reported on depression and dementia in PD, there is a yet a lack of such studies in India. This 7-year longitudinal study is a hospital-based prospective case (n = 250)–control (n = 280) study. In all, 36.8% had PD with no cognitive impairment (PD-Normal), 27.2% of the patients with PD were affected by dementia (PDD), and 36% of the remaining patients with PD had mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) at baseline. After 7 years of evaluation, 32 new patients, 12 patients from the PD-MCI group and 9 patients from the PD-Normal group, were diagnosed with dementia. The 7-year prevalence rate for dementia was estimated to be 49.28%. In the Indian population, an early onset of dementia is noted among patients with PD, with the age of onset being less than 55 years. Patients with early-onset PDD showed depression symptoms that differed significantly from the controls of the same age-group. There was a major difference in verbal fluency, word list recall, constructional praxis and recall, word list recognition, abridged Boston Naming Test, word list memory with repetition, and Mini-Mental State Examination between PD-MCI and PDD groups. Hallucinations before baseline (odds ratio [OR] = 4.427, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.122-9.373), akinetic/tremor dominancy (OR = 0.380, 95%CI = 0.149-0.953), and asymmetrical disease onset (OR = 0.3285, 95%CI = 0.1576-0.685) can be considered as risk factors for patients with dementia. Patients with early-onset PD might be more prone to complex depression and dementia. As the disease progresses, akinetic-dominant PD, early hallucinations, and asymmetrical disease onset are the potential risk factors for the development of dementia in patients with PD.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease with the absence of markers for diagnosis. Several studies on PD reported the elements imbalance in biofluids as biomarkers. However, their results remained inconclusive. This study integrates metallomics, multivariate and artificial neural network (ANN) to understand element variations in CSF and serum of PD patients from the largest cohort of Indian population to solve the inconsistent results of previous studies. Also, this study is aimed to (1) ascertain a common element signature between CSF and serum. (2) Assess cross sectional element variation with clinical symptoms. (3) Develop ANN models for rapid diagnosis. A metallomic profile of 110 CSF and 530 serum samples showed significant variations in 10 elements of CSF and six in serum of patients compared to controls. Consistent variations in elements pattern were noticed for Calcium, Magnesium and Iron in both the fluids of PD, which provides feasible diagnosis from serum. Furthermore, implementing multivariate analyses showed clear classification between normal and PD in both the fluids. Also, ANN provides 99% accuracy in detection of disease from CSF and serum. Overall, our analyses demonstrate that elements profile in biofluids of PD will be useful in development of diagnostic markers for PD.

Oxidative stress is thought to play a major role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Neurons are highly susceptible to a defective antioxidant scavenging system, thus inducing oxidative changes in human red blood cells (RBCs), in vivo and in vitro. Previous studies on oxidative stress in RBCs in patients with PD have yielded controversial results claiming unaltered activity to reduced activity. We have thus undertaken this study to investigate the possibility of oxidative damage to the RBCs in PD by measuring the cytosolic antioxidant enzymes viz., catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (G-Px). The biochemical parameters were measured in erythrocytes of 80 PD patients and 80 normal age-matched healthy controls. The enzymes activities were correlated with age of patients, age of onset of disease, duration of disease, United Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Hoehn and Yahr stage. Patients with PD had higher red blood corpuscle (RBC) activity of SOD. The CAT, and G-Px activities were significantly lower in patients with PD compared to the controls. Erythrocyte SOD, CAT and G-Px were markedly lower in those PD patients who were suffering for a greater duration of the disease and in advanced cases of PD. A significant (P < 0.05) negative correlation of enzyme activities with disease duration, UPDRS score and Hoehn and Yahr stage of the disease was found. Results of our present study concludes the implication of oxidative stress as one of the risk factors, which can initiate or promote neurodegeneration in PD by playing a role in dopaminergic neuronal loss and was correlated to the severity of the disease.

Background:While the cause of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unknown, evidence suggests certain environmental factors, such as well water drinking, herbicides, pesticides exposure and neurotoxins, may trigger the chain of oxidative reactions culminating in the death of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra to cause Parkinsonism. To investigate the possible impact of environmental risk factors for idiopathic PD, a case-control study was performed in the Eastern India.Methods:During the period from January 1st, 2006 and December 10th, 2009, 175 PD patients (140 men, 35 women) and 350 non-Parkinson age-sex matched controls were included in the study. Subjects were given a structured neurological examination and completed an administered questionnaire which elicited detailed information on demographic data, pesticides, herbicides family history, occupation, dietary and smoking habits.Results:The multivariate analysis revealed that family history of PD, pesticide exposure, exposure to toxins other than pesticides and herbicides, rural living and previous history of depression were associated with increased risk of PD, whereas, smoking appeared to be a protective factor. Well water drinking for at least five years, though a significant risk factor on univariate analysis (OR=4.5, 95% CI=2.1-9.9), could not be proved significant in multivariate analysis. Head trauma, vegetarian dietary habit, occupation involving physical exertion and exposure to domestic pets were not as significant risk factors.Conclusion:Results of our study support the hypothesis of multifactorial etiology of PD with environmental factors acting on a genetically susceptible host.

Little information is available regarding the molecular pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) among the Bengalee population in West Bengal, India. This study was undertaken to determine the contribution of Parkin variants in well-defined ethnically identical Bengalee population of India and further to describe the clinical spectrum associated with these mutations. A total of 150 unrelated PD patients and 150 controls were recruited for the study. The entire cohort was screened for mutations in all the 12 exons of the gene along with flanking splice junctions by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. Eleven nucleotide variants including two novel changes were detected. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) parkin protein expression of the novel mutation, Val186Ile (found in heterozygous condition in one patient only) was almost 2.7 folds lower than the controls and other PD patients. Molecular characterization of polymorphisms Ser167Asn and Val380Leu depicted that homozygous Ser167 and Val380 are significantly associated with the disease. We did not find any linkage disequilibrium among the SNPs, the low r(2) for every pair of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) indicated that these SNPs cannot be tagged by each other. Another novel intronic change, IVS8+48CT was present in almost equally in PD patients and controls. Among the ethnically defined Bengalee population of West Bengal, occurrence of Parkin mutation is 4% (6/150) of the PD patient pool supported with decreased folds of expression of CSF PARKIN protein. Parkin polymorphisms, Ser167 and Val380 are risk factors for the progression of the disease, and their frequency is greatly influenced by ethnic origin.

Mutations in the DJ-1 gene have been described in autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease (PD) of European ancestry, Ashkenazi Jews, and Afro-Caribbean patients. Up to date, there is a lack of information about the prevalence of DJ-1 mutations among Indian PD patients.In this study, we examined for DJ-1 mutations in Eastern Indian PD patients. Exons (no. 2-7) and intron boundaries of the DJ-1 gene were screened in 300 individuals (PD, 150; controls, 150) by direct sequencing.A total of six intronic variants (IVS4+30TG, IVS4+45GA, IVS4+46GA, IVS4-98GA, IVS5+31GA and IVS5+69GC) were detected including one novel intronic change (IVS5+69GC). Clinical features of the two patients exhibiting IVS5+69GC (novel change) were compared and both were found to have early onset PD. IVS4+30TG, IVS4+45GA, and IVS4+46GA were found to be present equally both in the patient and control cohorts. We did not find any DJ-1 mutations in our study.Our results suggest that, unlike Parkin, pathogenic DJ-1 mutations seem to be restricted in certain populations and are unlikely to be of clinical importance in the eastern part of India.

Background: Pathogenic mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2; PARK8) encoding dardarin, implicated in patients with autosomal dominant and sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) among different ethnic groups (Ashkenazi Jews, North African Arabs, Basques) might be of some help in diagnostic screening and genetic counseling. Aim of the Study: We investigated the seven common mutations spanning exons 31, 35, and 41 reported in the LRRK2 gene among Eastern Indian patients with PD. Methods: Mutations R1441G, R1441C, R1441H, G2019S, Y1699C, I2020T, and I2012T were screened in 320 individuals (PD, 150 and controls, 170) by direct sequencing. Results: We did not observe any of these abovementioned mutations in our studied individuals. Conclusion: We conclude that these mutations are rare causes of PD in the Eastern Indian population and, therefore, of little help for genetic counseling and diagnostic purposes.