The serum levels of activated T cells chemokines RANTES and inflammatory cytokines in Parkinson's disease patients and its significance

Objective: To detect the levels of serum activated T cells chemokines(RANTES) and inflammatory cytokinesincluding interleukin(IL)-1β,IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α in Parkinson's disease(PD) patients,and explore its roles in abnormal immune pathogenesis of PD.Methods: The serum levels of RANTES,IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α in 60 PD patients(PD group) and 35 healthy people(control group) were examined using the ELISA method.The disease of PD patients was evaluated using the UPDRS and Hoehn-Yahr score.The age,sex,smoking,drinking alcohol,blood glucose,blood pressure and blood lipid in two groups were examined.Results: The serum levels of the RANTES,IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α in PD group were significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.01).The differences of the serum RANTES levels in stage 1 to 5 PD patients were statistically significant(P<0.05 to P<0.01),but for the differences of the serum levels of IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α were not statistically significant(P>0.05).The differences of the serum RANTES levels between the mild,moderate and severe PD patients identified by the UPDRS were statistically significant(P<0.01),but for the differences of the levels of IL-1β、IL-6 and TNF-α were not statistically significant(P>0.05),and the level of RANTES was significantly positive correlation with the UPDRS score(P<0.01).Conclusions: Compared with control group,the levels of RANTES,IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α in PD patients increase,which suggest that the inflammatory cytokines may initiate and sustain the process of pathogenesis of PD,and provide the reference in early finding and treating the PD.