Plasma exosomal alpha-synuclein in inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder. Alpha-synuclein misfolding and aggregation resulting in neurototoxicity is a hallmark of PD. Exosomes (extrcellular vesicles 40-100 nm in size) can play a key role in the transport of pathogenic forms of alpha-synuclein. The aim of our work is to evaluate an effect of GBA and LRRK2 mutations on alpha-synuclein level in exosomes derived from peripheral blood plasma. No significant difference was found for exosomal alpha-synuclein levels patients with sporadic, GBA- and LRRK2- associated PD, PD with dementia compared to controls. Our results indicate that mutations in the LRRK2 and GBA genes do not influence on plasma exosomal alpha-synuclein level.