npj Parkinson's Disease (Feb 2023)
Plasma GFAP in Parkinson’s disease with cognitive impairment and its potential to predict conversion to dementia
Abstract
Abstract Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been suggested as a biomarker for reactive astrogliosis. We measured the levels of plasma GFAP by Simoa in 60 patients with PD with normal cognition, 63 with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), 24 with dementia (PDD) and 15 healthy controls. A subgroup of patients with PD-MCI (n = 31) was followed up for 4.1 ± 2.3 years. Compared with healthy controls, plasma GFAP levels were elevated in patients with PDD (adjusted P < 0.001) and PD-MCI (adjusted P = 0.013) and were negatively correlated with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score in PD participants. Plasma GFAP predicted MCI-to-dementia conversion with an AUC of 0.90, higher than NfL, Tau and pTau181. Our results support that plasma GFAP has potential value for distinguishing patients with PDD, and predicting MCI-to-dementia conversion in PD.