Expression of BDNF-Associated lncRNAs in Parkinson’s disease

Decreased level of neurotrophic factor brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been supposed to participate in the pathoetiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the underlying mechanisms of its dysregulation and the functional network between this factor and other transcripts have not been elucidated. In the current study, we measured expressions of BDNF, and four related long non-coding RNAs, namely BDNF-AS, MIR137HG, MIAT and PNKY in blood of PD patients and normal controls to find their expression levels in these patients and propose a possible mechanism for dysregulation of BDNF in PD patients. Notably, we detected down-regulation of all transcripts in the circulation of PD patients compared with controls. There was no significant difference in expression of either gene between male and female PD patients or patients receiving L-Dopa versus those receiving other drugs. Expression of none of genes was correlated with age, disease duration, disease stage, MMSE or UPDRS. Dynamic principal component analysis showed that expression levels of these genes almost clearly separated samples collected from healthy controls and PD patients into their respective groups. This suggests that the observed lncRNAs differences are associated with the pathophysiology of PD, and these lncRNAs might constitute an important biomarker signature for PD.