Objective: This study is aimed to investigate whether the number of exosomes, the amount of total or exosomal a-synuclein (a-syn) filaments in serum can serve as a useful biomarker for Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: PD is a neurodegenerative disease with a pathological feature of Lewy bodies/neurites containing a-syn. Recently, much attention has been drawn to biomarkers for PD because of the possible early intervention of this intractable disease. Accumulating evidence suggest that exosomes, nano-sized extracellular vesicles, play an important role in disseminating PD pathology from peripheral tissues to the central nervous system (CNS). We wonder whether exosomal a-syn filaments in serum can be a predictable marker for PD progression.

Method: Recruited patients include 120 PD, 10 multiple system atrophy (MSA), 11 progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and 61 controls who are free from neurodegenerative diseases. Exosomes were purified from serum by the conventional ultracentrifugation method and quantified by the nanoparticle tracking system. We developed the ELISA system that can quantify the total and filamentous a-syn in exosomes or in media.

Results: While no significant differences were observed in the total α-syn amounts among the groups either in exosomes or in media, the exosomal a-syn filaments in PD were significantly higher than controls (p=0.01).

Conclusion: These results indicate that the exosomal a-syn filaments can be a biomarker for PD and that exosomes may play an important role in the propagation of pathological a-syn into the CNS.

References: Tsunemi T, Hamada K, Krainc D. ATP13A2/PARK9 regulates secretion of exosomes and alpha-synuclein. J Neurosci 2014;34:15281-15287. Shi M, Liu C, Cook TJ, et al. Plasma exosomal alpha-synuclein is likely CNS-derived and increased in Parkinson’s disease. Acta Neuropathol 2014;128:639-650. Wu X, Zheng T, Zhang B. Exosomes in Parkinson’s Disease. Neurosci Bull 2017;33:331-338. Porro C, Panaro MA, Lofrumento DD, Hasalla E, Trotta T. The multiple roles of exosomes in Parkinson’s disease: an overview. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol 2019;41:469-476. Goedert M, Spillantini MG, Del Tredici K, Braak H. 100 years of Lewy pathology. Nat Rev Neurol 2013;9:13-24.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-exosomal-a-syn-filaments-can-be-a-novel-biomarker-of-parkinsons-disease/