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Identifying the potential role of serum miR-20a as a biomarker for olfactory dysfunction in patients with Parkinson’s disease

  • Rhinology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Olfactory dysfunction (OD), one of the most common non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD), is a cardinal prodromal symptom that can appear years before the onset of motor symptoms. Ongoing studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are suitable biomarkers for PD, while there is a lack of robust miRNAs that can serve as markers for OD in PD.

Methods

The concordantly differentially expressed miRNAs (DE miRNAs) in the damaged olfactory system were first identified in 2 OD-related Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Then, they were verified in another PD-related GEO dataset and only one miRNA (miR-20a) was found to be significantly altered. Serum levels of miR-20a were further measured by qPCR in 79 PD patients with OD (PD-OD), 52 PD patients without OD (PD-NOD), and 52 healthy controls (HC). Objective measure of OD was defined by 16-item Sniffin’ Sticks odor identification test. All the participants underwent a demographic and comprehensive PD-related clinical assessment.

Results

Our results proved that miR-20a was significantly downregulated in PD-OD compared with PD-NOD and the area under curve (AUC) for OD detection by miR-20a was 0.803 (95% confidence interval, 0.724–0.883). In addition, PD-OD had higher scores of Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) II, Hoehn and Yahr stage (H–Y), Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS) 3, NMSS 5, NMSS 9, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Activity of Daily Living (ADL), and lower scores of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and 39-item PD Quality of Life Questionnaire (PDQ-39) than PD-NOD. Binary regression model further presented that lower expressions of miR-20a and poorer cognitive function acted as promoting factors in the development of OD.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that miR-20a could be a novel biomarker for OD in PD and PD-OD patients tend to have higher disease stage, poorer motor aspects of experiences of daily living, worse cognitive scores, and inferior quality of life, and were more likely to have mental disorders. Cognitive function, in particular, is strongly associated with OD in PD patients.

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Data availability

Data available on request from the authors.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants who contributed to this study. We express our sincere appreciation to the reviewers for their constructive comments.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81771258).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200120, China

    Hong Liu, Haonan Zhao, Yiwen Bao, Jie Yang, Hongrong Xie & Dongya Huang

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  1. Hong Liu
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Correspondence to Hongrong Xie or Dongya Huang.

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The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the ethics committee of the Shanghai East hospital affiliated with Tongji University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

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Liu, H., Zhao, H., Bao, Y. et al. Identifying the potential role of serum miR-20a as a biomarker for olfactory dysfunction in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 280, 4509–4517 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-08034-5

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