Assessing serum anti-nuclear antibodies HEp-2 patterns in synucleinopathies.

This study investigates the presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in three primary synucleinopathies - Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), compared to healthy controls. Autoinflammatory disorders typically involve the immune system mistakenly attacking the body's own cells and start producing ANA. There is an increasing body of evidence that immune-mediated inflammation is a pathological feature linked to synucleinopathies. To investigate whether this could be autoimmune mediated we analyzed for ANA in the plasma of 25 MSA, 25 PD, and 17 DLB patients, along with 25 healthy controls, using the ANA HEp-2 indirect immunofluorescence antibody assay (ANA HEp-2 IFA). Contrary to initial expectations, results showed ANA HEp-2 positivity in 12% of PD, 8% of MSA patients, 18% of DLB patients, and 17% of healthy controls, indicating no increased prevalence of ANA in synucleinopathies compared to age-matched healthy individuals. Various ANA HEp-2 patterns were identified, but no specific pattern was associated with individual synucleinopathies. We conclude hereby that synucleinopathies are not associated with detectable presence of ANA in plasma.

Improvement by Medication Less than Expected in Parkinson's Disease: Blinded Evaluation of Levodopa Response.

Background: The latest Movement Disorder Society (MDS) diagnostic criteria require a good and sustained response to medication to get a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, PD. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate levodopa response in a group of patients with probable PD, diagnosed by movement disorder specialists. Methods: An acute levodopa challenge test (LDCT) was performed after pausing the dopaminergic medication for 6 half-times. The motor part of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale was performed in the OFF-state and after LDCT (ON). A good effect was defined as >30% improvement. A video-protocol was used to secure standardized motor examination with blinded assessments of the UPDRS-III OFF and ON. An age-matched group of control subjects (CS) was included but did not go through LDCT. All participants were evaluated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: In the statistical analysis, 37 patients were included. Twenty-one patients showed an improvement ≤30%, while 16 patients showed an improvement >30%. LDCT showed an overall mean improvement of 27.3% of motor UPDRS. In 43.2%, there was a discrepancy between the effect seen with the LDCT and the patients' self-perceived medicine evaluation. Patients with PD had a significantly lower MoCA score and more depressive symptoms compared to CS. Conclusions: We showed an acute effect of levodopa using LDCT that was around 30% improvement. While it lends support to the use of this limit in the MDS diagnostic criteria, an acute effect of less than 30% should be considered acceptable in some patients. Our study highlights a discrepancy in the objective measure of medicine effect on motor symptoms and the patient's subjective evaluation.