Study On Correlation Between Serum Levels Of Epidermal Growth Factor And Parkinson's Disease

Objective To compare the levels of serum epidermal growth factor(EGF)in Parkinson's disease( PD) patients with those in controls, and to investigate the relationship between the levels of serum EGF and PD.Methods 90 cases of hospitalized patients with Parkinson's disease without dementia were selected as research subjects(PD group). 70 cases of healthy persons with normal cognitive function were collected from health examination center as control group. The levels of serum EGF of both groups subjects were measured with the method of Enzyme- Linked Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA). The severity of motion symptom of all patients were assessed with the score of(Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-?(UPDRS-?). The stage of all patients' disease condition were assessed with the Hoehn-Yahr grading. The cognitive status of all subjects were assessed with the score of Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA). We compared the levels of serum EGF in PD group with those in control group. Then the PD group were divided into two subgroups respectively according to gender(men VS women),age(?65 years VS <65 years), the years of the disease duration(>6 years VS?6 years), the Hoehn-Yahr stages(?3.0 VS<3.0), the scores of UPDRS-?(?30 VS<30), the scores of MoCA [?26(PD- no cognitive impairment,PD-NCI)VS <26(PD- mild cognitive impairment,PD-MCI)]. Respectively compared two subgroups in the levels of serum EGF. By means of Spearman rank correlation analysis, the correlation of EGF levels with age, the years of the disease duration,Hoehn-Yahr stages, the scores of UPDRS-? and the scores of MoCA in PD patients were analyzed, respectively.Results The levels of serum EGF in PD group were significantly higher than those in the control group(195.80 ± 74.51 pg/ml vs 170.54±56.19 pg/ml, P<0.05).In PD group, the levels of serum EGF in PD-NCI subgroup were significantly higher than those in PD-MCI subgroup(223.45±73.88 pg/ml VS 159.66±58.76 pg/ml, P<0.05). In PD group, there was no significant difference in terms of EGF serum levels between the man subgroup and the woman group(189.89±76.59 pg/ml VS 166.27±57.01 pg/ml,P>0.05); between the ?65 years subgroup and the <65 years subgroup(192.99±68.99 pg/ml VS 180.06±67.45 pg/ml,P>0.05); between the subgroup disease duration >6 years and the subgroup disease duration ?6 years(196.75±80.80 pg/ml VS 195.08±70.13 pg/ml,P>0.05); between the subgroup Hoehn-Yahr stages?3.0 and the subgrop Hoehn-Yahr stages<3.0(209.28±78.94pg/ml VS 187.23±70.95 pg/ml,P>0.05); between the subgroup with scores of UPDRS-? ?30 and the subgroup with scores of UPDRS-? <30(195.72±78.81pg/ml VS 195.86±72.12 pg/ml,P>0.05). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the levels of serum EGF and the score of MoCA in PD patients( r=0.47, P < 0.05). Respectively, significant correlation was not observed between the levels of serum EGF and age, the years of the disease duration, Hoehn-Yahr stages, the scores of UPDRS-? in PD patients(P>0.05).Conclusion The levels of serum EGF in PD patients had close association with cognitive status. In PD patients, the higher the levels of serum EGF were, the better the patient's cognitive function showed; similarly, the lower the levels of serum EGF were, the worse the patient's cognitive function showed. The levels of serum EGF might be a potential biomarker to objectively reflect the cognitive function status in PD patients, and be helpful to improve the detection rate of PD-MCI in PD paitiens without demantia.