Objective: Our present study assessed the role of serum uric acid as a putative biomarker in a prodromal PD cohort [REM Sleep Behavior disorder (RBD) and Hyposmia] followed longitudinally.
Background: The role of blood uric acid as a biomarker in symptomatic motor PD has been increasingly established in the literature. Previous reports on uric acid in prodromal PD are scarce.
Method: Longitudinal 5-year serum uric acid measurement data of 39 RBD patients and 26 Hyposmia patients with an abnormal 123I-FP-CIT SPECT imaging were downloaded from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database (www.ppmi-info.org/data). These cohorts were compared with 423 de novo sporadic PD patients and 196 healthy controls enrolled in the same study.
Results: After adjusting for age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI), and presence of concomitant disorders (hypertension and gout) baseline and 5-year longitudinal serum uric acid levels were higher in the RBD subgroup as compared to the motor PD cohort (p=0.004 and p=0.001 respectively). This was also true for longitudinal measurements in the Hyposmic subgroup (p=0.008). In contrast, baseline and longitudinal serum uric acid did not differ between RBD or Hyposmia groups and healthy controls despite a tendency for higher levels in the former. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between baseline uric acid level or 2-year and 4-year change in uric acid and motor or cognitive parameters.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that serum uric acid levels are higher in prodromal PD subjects with ongoing dopaminergic degeneration compared to those with established PD, and even somewhat higher than controls, although this difference was not statistically significant. These data suggest the possibility that the well established lowering of serum uric acid observed in PD occurs with the transition to clinical PD, and furthermore hints to the possibility that higher levels of serum uric acid in prodromal PD, due to inherent antioxidant properties, may provide protection against conversion to full-blown clinical PD.
This study was funded by Michael J.Fox Foundation as a part of PPMI Study.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
C. Koros, A-M. Simitsi, N. Papagiannakis, A. Bougea, A. Prentakis, D. Papadimitriou, I. Pachi, R. Antonelou, E. Angelopoulou, E. Efthymiopoulou, I. Beratis, M. Bozi, S. Papageorgiou, A. Bonakis, M. Stamelou, L. Stefanis. Serum uric acid as a putative biomarker in Prodromal Parkinson’s disease: Longitudinal data from the PPMI study. [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2021; 36 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/serum-uric-acid-as-a-putative-biomarker-in-prodromal-parkinsons-disease-longitudinal-data-from-the-ppmi-study/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2021
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/serum-uric-acid-as-a-putative-biomarker-in-prodromal-parkinsons-disease-longitudinal-data-from-the-ppmi-study/