Objective: To investigate the role of peripheral immune system in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease carrying LRRK2 risk variants.

Background: Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene is the most important cause of familial and sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD), a common neurological disorder. Our published prospective cohort study show that LRRK2 carrier PD patients progressed more rapidly than non-carriers. Genome wide association studies have found an association between LRRK2 and Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disease, as well as with PD, suggesting that these two diseases share common pathways.

Methods: Peripheral blood from PD patients (LRRK2 risk variant carriers and non-carriers) and healthy controls has been collected. Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) were isolated and stained with antibodies for cell surface markers of different subsets (monocyte, B cells, T cells and NK cells).

Results: Our results show that LRRK2 is abundantly expressed in human monocytes. Phenotypic study on PBMCs show that monocyte population doubled together with increased memory T and NKT cell populations in PD patients than healthy control.

Conclusions: Our study will provide new pathophysiologic clues on the link between the peripheral immune cells and PD pathogenesis, and these will facilitate novel therapeutic approaches in modulating the immune system in PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/involvement-of-peripheral-immune-system-in-the-pathogenesis-of-parkinsons-disease/