Objective: To find a specific in vivo marker to improve a differential diagnosis between Parkinson´s disease and atypical Parkinsonian syndromes, especially early in the course of the disease.

Background: Clusterin, a glycoprotein, is thought to be involved in cell-cell interaction, cell survival and apoptosis. In the brain, post-mortem analysis has found increased clusterin associated with the pathology of many neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Alzheimer’s disease and multiple system atrophy (MSA). In vivo cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of clusterin may reflect differences in the pathology.

Methods: CSF levels of clusterin were assessed in 102 patients with clinical manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases (23 patients with PD, 18 with PDD, 15 with DLB, 18 with AD, 16 with PSP, 12 with MSA) and 21 subjects as a control group (CG).

Results: Significantly higher CSF clusterin levels were found in PD compared to CG (median 6884 vs. 4484; p = 0.012), DLB (median 6884 vs. 4192; p = 0.023), MSA (median 6884 vs. 3606; p = 0.001) and PSP (median 6884 vs. 4193; p = 0.014). Significantly higher CSF clusterin levels were found in PDD compared to CG (median 8617 vs. 4484; p = 0.045), DLB (median 8617 vs. 4192; p = 0.025) and MSA (median 8617 vs. 3,606; p = 0.004).

Conclusions: The results support the role of clusterin in PD / PDD pathogenesis. Clusterin CSF levels could serve as a potential marker for PDD and DLB differentiation. Supported by grant AZV (Czech Republic) 15-32715A.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clusterin-csf-levels-in-differential-diagnosis-of-neurodegenerative-disorders/