Plasma GFAP and NfL associate with cerebral glucose metabolism in putative brain-first and body-first Parkinson’s disease subtypes

作者：Shiyu Li, Fangyang Jiao, Xiuyuan Li, Zhiheng Xu, Tianyu Hu, Xiaoniu Liang, Jianjun Wu, Jian Wang, Chuantao Zuo, Yilin Tang · 发表于：npj Parkinson s Disease · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41531-025-00898-0 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments、Neurological disorders and treatments、Alzheimer's disease research and treatments

The recently proposed body-first and brain-first subtypes are classified based on the initial localization of α-synuclein inclusions. This study investigated plasma biomarkers and cerebral glucose metabolism characteristics in putative brain-first and body-first subtypes in PD subjects. PD patients without possible RBD (PD pRBD– ) ( n = 58) and with possible RBD symptoms discovered before motor symptoms (PD pRBD+ ) ( n = 43) were recruited. Single-molecule array (SimoA) was used for measuring plasma biomarkers, including glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light chain (NfL), Tau and phosphorylated-tau 181 (pTau-181). All participants underwent 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET scans. Compared to PD pRBD– patients, PD pRBD+ patients exhibited significantly increased plasma GFAP levels and reduced 18 F-FDG uptake in cortical regions. Notably, plasma GFAP and NfL levels correlated with cerebral glucose metabolism in PD pRBD– patients. Our study identified the association between plasma GFAP and NfL levels and cerebral glucose metabolism in PD pRBD– patients. Further large-scale longitudinal studies are required.