Study Rationale: Several studies have demonstrated that people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have an altered frequency of immune cells in the blood. In addition, immune cells that normally patrol the blood have been identified in postmortem brain samples of PD patients. Based on this evidence, we aim to determine whether the immune cells in the PD patients display any pathological attributes that could contribute to disease initiation and progression. To do this, we will conduct single-cell analysis of immune cells from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood of people with PD.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that specific changes in the immune system play a role in the development and progression of PD and that these alterations can be assessed by examining specific biomarkers, an approach that could facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Study Design: In this project, we will collect cerebrospinal fluid and blood from individuals with varying forms of PD. We will then use multiple single-cell analytic techniques to catalog the changes in individual immune cells from people with PD, with and without symptoms, and compare these single-cell profiles to those of age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers.
Impact on Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s disease: Our goal is to identify unique sets of immune cells and pathways that may be responsible for the development and progression of PD. This finding would allow us to identify essential players in PD development and highlight key biomarkers for the development of potential therapeutic treatments.
Next Steps for Development: If successful, the results from this study could point toward novel targets for drug development or identify markers for diagnosis and monitoring of individuals that have genes that make them more likely to develop PD.