DefinePK

Abstract

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a disease that is typified by progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, which causes motor and non-motor dysfunctions. The neurotrophic factors, including ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), have also been considered as potential disease-modifying agents because of their capability to increase neuronal survival, as well as to regulate neuroinflammatory effects. The objective of this study was to assess the neuroprotective effect of CNTF on PD progression through assessing the levels of CNTF expression and correlating it with clinical and molecular characteristics in patients versus controls.
Methods: It was a six-month case-control study in tertiary care hospitals of PU, primarily the Federal PGMI, Lahore, in the Department of Pathology and Oncology (Ref: 1449-06SZH). A total of 80 PD patients and 20 age and sex matched controls were recruited. ELISA was used to quantify serum CNTF; these were correlated with clinical severity scores and neuroinflammatory markers. Statistical tests were chi-square tests, independent t-tests, and Pearson correlation.
Results: The CNTF level was significantly low in PD patients relative to controls (p < 0.01). The low levels of CNTF were associated with disease progression, expression of neuroinflammatory markers, and expression of signaling of apoptotic signaling. These results indicate that CNTF makes a contribution to the dopaminergic neuroprotection and has a possible disease progression biomarker.
Conclusion: CNTF has demonstrated the potential of neuroprotection in PD that is highly promising as a biomarker and a therapeutic target. It should be confirmed that bigger longitudinal studies are justified to establish their impact on altering the course of the disease.