Association of Serum Extracellular Vesicle miRNAs with Cognitive Functioning and Quality of Life in Parkinson’s Disease
Paulina Vaitkienė,
Aistė Pranckevičienė,
Andrius Radžiūnas,
Augustina Mišeikaitė,
Giedrė Miniotaitė,
Violeta Belickienė,
Ovidijus Laucius,
Vytenis Deltuva
Affiliations
Paulina Vaitkienė
Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu Str. 4, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
Aistė Pranckevičienė
Health Psychology Department, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuania University of Health Sciences, Tilžės g. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Andrius Radžiūnas
Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kauno Klinikos, Eiveniu Str. 2, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
Augustina Mišeikaitė
Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu Str. 4, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
Giedrė Miniotaitė
Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu Str. 4, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
Violeta Belickienė
Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu Str. 4, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
Ovidijus Laucius
Neurology Department, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kauno Klinikos, Eiveniu Str. 2, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
Vytenis Deltuva
Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu Str. 4, LT-50009 Kaunas, Lithuania
The identification of mechanisms associated with Parkinson disease (PD) development in cognitive functioning would be of great usefulness to clarify PD pathogenesis and to develop preventive and therapeutic strategies. In this study, blood serum extracellular vesicle (EV) levels of the candidate microRNAs (small noncoding RNAs that play a role in gene expression regulation):,miR-7, miR-21, miR-153, miR-155, miR-200a and miR-214, have been investigated for association with PD in a group of 93 patients with cognitive parameters, PD symptoms, affected quality of life and some clinical characteristics. MiRNA was extracted from patients’ blood serum EVs, transcribed into cDNA and their expression was evaluated using RT-PCR. The miR-153 and miR-200a showed the most plausible correlations with cognitive functioning parameters such as general intellectual functioning, psychomotor speed, mental flexibility, and nonverbal executive functions. Moreover, lower levels of miR-153 were associated with attention span, working memory and psychomotor speed with learning. Increased levels of miR-200a, miR-7, miR-214, and miR-155 were also linked with neurological functioning, such as bradykinesia, tremor, balance and others. Despite the fact that due to small sample size, our results should be considered as preliminary, our study suggests that miRNA expression in EVs could be associated with symptom severity, cognitive impairment and quality of life in PD.
