Publications by authors named "Jia-Li Pu"

Peripheral immune cells play a vital role in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, their cytokine and chemokine secretion functions remain unclear. Therefore, we aimed to explore the cytokine and chemokine secretion functions of specific immune cell subtypes in drug-naïve patients with PD at different ages of onset.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

DNA damage and defective DNA repair are extensively linked to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD), but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we determined that the PD-associated protein DJ-1 plays an essential role in modulating DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair. Specifically, DJ-1 is a DNA damage response (DDR) protein that can be recruited to DNA damage sites, where it promotes DSB repair through both homologous recombination and nonhomologous end joining.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease around the world; however, its pathogenesis remains unclear so far. Recent advances have shown that DNA damage and repair deficiency play an important role in the pathophysiology of PD. There is growing evidence suggesting that DNA damage is involved in the propagation of cellular damage in PD, leading to neuropathology under different conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microglial hyperactivation of the NOD-, LRR-, and pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome contributes to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, neuronally expressed NLRP3 was demonstrated to be a Parkin polyubiquitination substrate and a driver of neurodegeneration in PD. However, the role of Parkin in NLRP3 inflammasome activation in microglia remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the link between intestinal inflammation, gut microbiota, and Parkinson's disease (PD), focusing on the role of elevated serum anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibody (ASCA) levels, which are markers of chronic gut inflammation.* -
  • Researchers measured serum ASCA levels and analyzed gut fungal communities in 393 subjects, finding that PD patients had significantly higher ASCA IgG and IgA levels compared to healthy controls and those with essential tremor, alongside differences in gut fungal composition.* -
  • The findings suggest that elevated serum ASCA levels and enriched levels of the fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae could help distinguish PD from other groups, indicating a potential link between gut health and PD pathogenesis.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease with a significant public health burden. It is characterized by the gradual degeneration of dopamine neurons in the central nervous system. Although symptomatic pharmacological management remains the primary therapeutic method for PD, clinical experience reveals significant inter-individual heterogeneity in treatment effectiveness and adverse medication responses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may influence cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease, with unclear mechanisms affecting brain imaging phenotypes.
  • A study involving 48 Parkinson's patients and 39 healthy controls used genotyping and advanced MRI techniques to investigate these SNPs' effects on brain structure and function.
  • Results showed significant correlations between polygenic risk scores and neural activity/connectivity in specific brain regions, highlighting potential genetic pathways involved in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD), with either rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) or olfactory dysfunction (OD), has been associated with disease progression. However, there is currently heterogeneity in predicting prognosis.

Objectives: To identify whether the concurrent presence of OD and probable RBD (pRBD) in PD (Dual hit in PD, PD-DH) is associated with disease progression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of midbrain substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons and the formation of Lewy bodies. Over the years, researchers have gained extensive knowledge about dopaminergic neuron degeneration from the perspective of the environmental and disease-causing genetic factors; however, there is still no disease-modifying therapy. Aging has long been recognized as a major risk factor for PD; however, little is known about how aging contributes to the disease development.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Mutations in the PRKN gene are a leading cause of autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease (PD), but research on parkin-/- mice shows no early loss of dopaminergic neurons or motor symptoms.
  • - This study focused on how the absence of the parkin gene affected the retina's mitochondria and synaptic structures in 6-month-old mice, revealing a thicker retina and significant mitochondrial abnormalities.
  • - The findings indicate that parkin-/- mice experienced impaired mitochondrial function and structural changes in the retina, which disrupted communication between photoreceptors and retinal neurons, leading to visual impairment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ferroptosis, a novel form of regulated cell death, is caused by accumulation of lipid peroxides and excessive iron deposition. This process has been linked to the death of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra compacta (SNc) of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Quercetin (QCT), a natural flavonoid, has multiple pharmacological activities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Purpose: The insidious onset of Parkinson's disease (PD) makes early diagnosis difficult. Notably, idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) was reported as a prodrome of PD, which may represent a breakthrough for the early diagnosis of PD. However, currently there is no reliable biomarker for PD diagnosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the utility of inflammatory markers of hemogram parameters as objective indicators of disease severity in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis.

Methods: A total of 98 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Inflammatory markers of hemogram parameters, including neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio, were acquired within 24 h of admission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain radiomics can reflect the characteristics of brain pathophysiology. However, the value of T1-weighted images, quantitative susceptibility mapping, and R2* mapping in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) was underestimated in previous studies. In this prospective study to establish a model for PD diagnosis based on brain imaging information, we collected high-resolution T1-weighted images, R2* mapping, and quantitative susceptibility imaging data from 171 patients with PD and 179 healthy controls recruited from August 2014 to August 2019.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) and dystonia are closely related in terms of pathophysiology and clinical manifestations, but their common genetic characteristics remain unclear. Some genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and replication studies have revealed correlations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the genes and dystonia. This study was conducted to assess the association between these genetic loci and PD in a population from Eastern China.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cognitive flexibility enables effective switching between mental processes to generate appropriate responses. Cholinergic neurons (CNs) within the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) are associated with many functions, but their contribution to cognitive flexibility remains poorly understood. Here we measure PPN cholinergic activities using calcium indicators during the attentional set-shifting task.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent evidence suggests that innate and adaptive immunity play a crucial role in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, studies regarding specific immune cell classification in the peripheral blood in PD remain lacking. Therefore, we aimed to explore the different immune status in patients with PD at different ages of onset.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Growing evidence suggests important effects of body mass index (BMI) and metabolic status on neurodegenerative diseases. However, the roles of BMI and metabolic status on cognitive outcomes in Parkinson's disease (PD) may vary and are yet to be determined.

Methods: In total, 139 PD patients from the whole PD cohort in Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative database underwent complete laboratory measurements, demographic and anthropometric parameters at baseline, and were enrolled in this study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 exacerbates α-synuclein pathology.

Objective: To determine whether APOE ε4 contributes to motor progression in early Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Longitudinal data were obtained from 384 patients with PD divided into APOE ε4 carriers (n = 85) and noncarriers (n = 299) in the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: To date, the genetic contribution to Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear. Mutations in the collagen type VI alpha 3 (COL6A3) gene were recently identified as a cause of isolated dystonia. Since PD and dystonia are closely related disorders with shared clinical and genetic characteristics, we explored the association between COL6A3 and PD in a Chinese cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Mutations in the teneurin transmembrane protein 4 () gene, known to be involved in neuropsychiatric disorders, have been identified in three pedigree of essential tremor (ET) from Spain. ET has overlapping clinical manifestations and epidemiological symptoms with Parkinson's disease (PD), suggesting these two disorders may reflect common genetic risk factors. In this study, we investigated clinical and genetic manifestations in four unrelated pedigrees with both ET and PD in which variants were identified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Excessive aggregation of α-synuclein is the key pathophysiological feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is also associated with synucleinopathies and considered as a powerful predictor of PD. Growing evidence suggests the diminished clearance of α-synuclein may be partly attributable to poor interstitial fluid drainage, which can be reflected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-visible enlarged perivascular space (EPVS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Perivascular spaces in the brain have been known to communicate with cerebrospinal fluid and contribute to waste clearance in animal models. In this study, we sought to determine the association between MRI-visible enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) and disease markers in Parkinson's disease (PD). We obtained longitudinal data from 245 patients with PD and 98 healthy controls from the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF