Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in Parkinson's disease with freezing of gait: an exploratory analysis

J M Hatcher-Martin; J L McKay; A F Pybus; B Sommerfeld; J C Howell; F C Goldstein; L Wood; W T Hu; S A Factor

doi:10.1038/s41531-021-00247-x

Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in Parkinson's disease with freezing of gait: an exploratory analysis

NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2021 Nov 29;7(1):105. doi: 10.1038/s41531-021-00247-x.

Authors

J M Hatcher-Martin^#^{1

2}, J L McKay^#^{1

3

4}, A F Pybus⁵, B Sommerfeld¹, J C Howell⁶, F C Goldstein⁷, L Wood⁵, W T Hu⁸, S A Factor^#⁹

Affiliations

¹ Jean & Paul Amos PD & Movement Disorders Program, Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
² Department of Neurology, SOC Telemed, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁶ Neurology Consultants of Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁷ Neuropsychology Program, Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁸ Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University and Cognitive Neurology Division, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁹ Jean & Paul Amos PD & Movement Disorders Program, Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. sfactor@emory.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

We explore the association between three Alzheimer's disease-related and ten inflammation-related CSF markers and freezing of gait (FOG) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The study population includes PD patients with FOG (PD-FOG, N = 12), without FOG (PD-NoFOG, N = 19), and healthy controls (HC, N = 12). Age and PD duration are not significantly different between groups. After adjusting for covariates and multiple comparisons, the anti-inflammatory marker, fractalkine, is significantly decreased in the PD groups compared to HC (P = 0.002), and further decreased in PD-FOG compared to PD-NoFOG (P = 0.007). The Alzheimer's disease-related protein, Aβ42, is increased in PD-FOG compared to PD-NoFOG and HC (P = 0.001). Group differences obtained in individual biomarker analyses are confirmed with multivariate discriminant partial least squares regression (P < 0.001). High levels of Aβ42 in PD-FOG patients supports an increase over time from early to advanced state. Low levels of fractalkine might suggest anti-inflammatory effect. These findings warrant replication.

Grants and funding

K25 HD086276/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States