Background: Alpha-synuclein aggregates and accumulation are associated with immune activation and neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease. The immune activation is not only dependent on the brain-resident microglial cells but also involves peripheral immune cells, such as mononuclear phagocytes including monocytes and dendritic cells, found in the blood as well as infiltrated into the brain. Understanding the involvement of the peripheral immune component in Parkinson's disease is essential for the development of immunomodulatory treatment, which might modify disease progression. We aimed to study the profile of circulating mononuclear phagocytes in early- and late-stage Parkinson's disease by analyzing surface-expressed molecules related to phagocytosis, alpha-synuclein sensing, and tissue-migration.
Methods: Multi-color flow cytometry on peripheral mononuclear cells from cross-sectional samples of 80 gender-balance individuals with early- and late-stage sporadic Parkinson's disease, and 29 controls, as well as longitudinal samples from seven patients and one control. Cells were delineated into natural killer cells, monocyte subtypes, and dendritic cells with cell frequencies and surface marker expressions compared between patients and controls, and correlated with standardized clinical motor and non-motor scores.
Results: Overall, we found elevated frequencies and surface levels of markers related to migration (CCR2, CD11b) and phagocytosis (CD163) particularly on the elevated classical and intermediate monocytes in patients with Parkinson's disease for less than five years. This corresponded to a decrease of non-classical monocytes and dendritic cells. We observed an increased HLA-DR expression late in disease and sexual-dimorphism with TLR-4 expression decreased in women with PD but not in males. The disease-associated immune changes on TLR4, CCR2, and CD11b were correlated with non-motor symptoms such as olfaction or cognition. While many alterations were normalized at late disease stage, other changes remained, such as the increased HLA-DR and CD163 expressions.
Conclusions: Our data highlight a role for peripheral CD163+ and migration-competent classical monocytes in Parkinson's disease. The study further suggests that the peripheral immune system is dynamically altered in Parkinson's disease stages and directly related to both non-motor symptoms and the sex-bias of the disease.