Expression analysis of vitamin D receptor and its related long non-coding RNAs in peripheral blood of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological condition that is associated with abnormal expression of several transcripts. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a possible participant in the pathogenesis of PD.

Methods And Results: In the present research project, we evaluated expressions of VDR and three functionally associated long non-coding RNAs with this signaling, namely SNHG6, SNHG16 and LINC00346 in PD patients versus normal controls. Level of SNHG6 transcripts was lower in total patients in comparison with total controls (Expression ratio (95% CI) 0.44 (0.17-1.08)) and in male patients compared with male controls (Expression ratio (95% CI) 0.29 (0.13-0.65)). On the other hand, expression of VDR was higher in total patients compared with total controls (Expression ratio (95% CI) 10.86 (4.37-26.72)) and in male patients compared with male controls (Expression ratio (95% CI) 22.16 (6.23-78.8)). There was no significant difference in expression of SNHG16 and LINC00346 between PD patients and controls. Amounts of SNHG6 and VDR transcripts could differentiate total PD patients from total controls with AUC values of 0.66 and 0.86, respectively.

Conclusions: Cumulatively, the results of the present investigation imply dysregulation of VDR signaling in PD and necessitate conduction of further functional studies.