Skin Biopsy Detection of Phosphorylated α-Synuclein in Patients of Bullous Pemphigoid with or without Parkinson's Disease.

BACKGROUND

High positivity rate of skin phosphorylated α-synuclein (P-SYN) was observed in Parkinson's disease (PD). Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is one of the most common autoimmune skin diseases associated with PD.

OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to investigate whether BP patients might be a targeted risk population for the screening of skin P-SYN.

METHODS

Skin P-SYN expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in BP patients with/without PD.

RESULTS

Twenty-two BP patients with PD, 24 BP patients without PD, and seven healthy donors were enrolled. Colocalization of P-SYN and PGP9.5 was found in all BP patients, but only one healthy control, whereas BP patients with PD showed higher expression than BP patients without PD (mean ± standard deviation, 10.7 ± 6.7 vs. 7.3 ± 3.2; P = 0.027). Positive expression was mainly observed in basement membrane zone and dermis.

CONCLUSION

These results indicated BP patients might be a targeted risk population for the screening of skin P-SYN, which was helpful for the detection of PD early. © 2024 The Author(s). Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.