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Altered NR4A Subfamily Gene Expression Level in Peripheral Blood of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

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An Erratum to this article was published on 02 December 2016

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative pathology characterized by the degeneration of midbrain dopamine neurons, whose development and maintenance in brain is related to the transcription factor NR4A2 (also called Nurr1). Notably, NR4A2 is a neuroprotective agent with anti-inflammatory role in microglia and astrocytes. Furthermore, mutations in NR4A2 gene are associated to the familial form of PD, and its gene expression level is down-regulated in blood obtained from PD patients. NR4A2 belongs to the NR4A subfamily consisting of three members: NR4A1, NR4A2, and NR4A3. The NR4A subfamily shares high degree of homology in their molecular structure and cooperates in a spectrum of functions ranging from central nervous system to immune control during physiological and pathological conditions. Considering the close functional link between the member of NR4A subfamily, we performed a gene expression analysis of NR4A1, NR4A2, and NR4A3 in peripheral blood obtained from PD patients and healthy controls (HC). Then, in order to evaluate possible involvement of the NR4A subfamily in other neurodegenerative processes, we carried out the same analysis on blood obtained from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. A correlation between clinical features and gene expression was also evaluated. We found a marked down-regulated gene expression of the NR4A subfamily obtained from PD patients, but only a NR4A1 decrease in AD patients compared to HC. This study reports that the entire NR4A subfamily and not only NR4A2 could be systemically involved in PD suggesting that the study of these factors could be a promising approach to develop PD therapy.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Egidio Caricati for his initial contribution in setting up the clinical database. This study was supported by a grant from the Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla (FISM 2010/R/7) and the Italian Ministry of Health (Bando Giovani Ricercatori 2010—Grant Number GR-2010-2315964).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurobiology Unit, Neurologia 2 – CReSM (Regional Referring Center of Multiple Sclerosis), Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), University of Turin & AOU San Luigi Gonzaga, Regione Gonzole, 10, 10043, Orbassano, TO, Italy

    Francesca Montarolo, Simona Perga, Serena Martire, Désirée Nicole Navone & Antonio Bertolotto

  2. Division of Neurology, Martini Hospital, Via Tofane, 71, 10141, Turin, TO, Italy

    Alberto Marchet & Daniela Leotta

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  1. Francesca Montarolo
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  2. Simona Perga
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  4. Désirée Nicole Navone
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  5. Alberto Marchet
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  7. Antonio Bertolotto
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Correspondence to Francesca Montarolo.

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The authors have nothing to disclose.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Piedmont and San Luigi Gonzaga, University Hospital Ethical Committee, and the research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent was obtained from each individual included in this study at the time of blood drawing.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12640-016-9685-6.

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Montarolo, F., Perga, S., Martire, S. et al. Altered NR4A Subfamily Gene Expression Level in Peripheral Blood of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease Patients. Neurotox Res 30, 338–344 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12640-016-9626-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12640-016-9626-4

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