Objective: We conducted this 2-year follow-up study to evaluate whether or not catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor (COMTI) has an impact on the progression or severity of Parkinson’s Disease.

Background: Serum homocysteine (Hcy) has various neuronal and endothelial cellular toxicities. Therefore, hyperhomocysteinemia has been reported to correlate with neurodegenerative disease. Animal studies demonstrated that pre-treatment with a catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor (COMTI) can block the elevation of serum Hcy levels. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether hyperhomocysteinemia in the patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is related to clinical progression or not.

Methods: Data for 38 PD patients (16 PD patients treated with L-Dopa and COMTI and 22 PD patients treated with L-Dopa alone) who were recruited for this study were compared with those of 19 healthy controls. All subjects underwent Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT and neurological evaluation including cognitive function. Serum Hcy was measured ! at baseline and at the 2-year follow up visit.

Results: This study showed that there were no significant differences in serum Hcy level, regional cerebral perfusion, cognitive function or motor severity at baseline or at 2 years between the two PD groups.

Conclusions: The present 2-year follow-up study demonstrated that serum Hcy concentration in COMTI-treated PD patients was not significantly lower compared to PD patients not receiving COMTI treatment. Therefore, use of COMTI did not delay progression of clinical severity in PD. However, future large-scale longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the effects of COMTI.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/effect-of-comt-inhibitor-in-the-clinical-progression-of-parkinsons-disease/