Viral Antibodies in the Sera from Patients with Parkinson Disease

Abstract

An assay of antibodies to 15 various viruses and mycoplasma pneumoniae was performed on the serum specimens from 441 patients with Parkinson disease and from 443 healthy controls matched by sex, age, and place of residence, or from a representative group of these matched pairs. The main finding was a higher herpes simplex complement-fixing antibody level in patients with Parkinson disease than in controls. Patients with Parkinson disease had higher herpes simplex antibody titers more often than did their matched controls, and the matched controls, respectively, had low titers more often than the patients. The mean herpes simplex antibody titer (log₂) of the patients (4.9) was significantly higher than that of controls (4.6) (p < 0.01). This difference was also demonstrable when matched pairs were analysed for paired differences of herpes simplex antibody titers. For other viral CF and HI antibodies studied and for mycoplasma pneumoniae CF antibody, there were no significant differences either in the mean titers or in the distribution of individual titer values between the patients with Parkinson disease and the matched controls.

Epidemiology and etiology of Parkinson’s disease: a review of the evidence

“…Overall, however, there is no clear evidence for involvement of an infectious agent in PD. Case-control studies have analyzed antibody titres in serum or cerebrospinal fluid for a large number of viruses (including influenza), as well as Bordetella pertussis [146,[534][535][536][537][538][539]. Whilst most studies found similar antibody levels in cases and controls, one study observed higher antibody levels for herpes simplex [538], while another study found lower antibody levels for herpes simplex, rubella and measles [539].…”

“…Case-control studies have analyzed antibody titres in serum or cerebrospinal fluid for a large number of viruses (including influenza), as well as Bordetella pertussis [146,[534][535][536][537][538][539]. Whilst most studies found similar antibody levels in cases and controls, one study observed higher antibody levels for herpes simplex [538], while another study found lower antibody levels for herpes simplex, rubella and measles [539]. Similarly, studies that examined self-reported history of influenza [132,292,344] or other viral infections [142,411,540] generally reported no association with PD.…”

Intranasal Administration of Neurotoxicants in Animals: Support for the Olfactory Vector Hypothesis of Parkinson’s Disease

“…The first strong evidence for viral involvement in the etiology of PD was the upsurge in cases that followed the 1918 influenza pandemic, although reports of influenzaassociated neurological problems are found as far back as 1385 (Jang et al 2009). Other viruses have been associated with the etiology of parkinsonism, usually in conjunction with encephalopathy, including the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Herpes simplex, the human immunodeficiency virus, the West Nile virus, the St. Louis encephalitis virus, and various influenza viruses (Goto 1962;Marttila et al 1977Marttila et al , 1981Marttila and Rinne 1978;Pranzatelli et al 1994;Ogata et al 2000;Koutsilieri et al 2002;Robinson et al 2003;Jang et al 2009). The most common human encephalitis virus, JEV, is often accompanied by decreased CSF levels of catecholamines (Misra et al 2005;Hamaue et al 2006).…”

Environment, Genetics and Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease

“…Inspired by the effect of MPP+ on the mitochondrial respiration, defects in the respiratory chain function in cells of parkinsonian patients have been identified. 8 '- 84 A significant and specific reduction of complex I activity was found in IPD patients (Figure 2) at the level of the SN 81 ' 84 and striatum. 83 However, at the moment, it is not possible to determine the extent of the glial cell contribution to this effect.…”

“…This model generally implies the presence of one or more inherited "susceptibilty factors" as a background to the effect of environmental agents, e) IPD has a viral etiology. 8 ' 9 It is proposed that conventional viruses may produce IPD as a rare complication of systemic infection. Evidence for this hypothesis has been sought from studies on viral antibody titres.…”