A preliminary data: Evaluation of serum Galectin-3 levels in patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease.

AIM

In our study, we aimed to collect data for the hypothesis that Galectin-3 might be used as a new prognostic and therapeutic biomarker in Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (IPD).

METHOD

In this prospective and cross-sectional study, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Modified Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) scales were applied to each patient diagnosed as IPD according to the UK Brain Bank diagnostic criteria. The control group consisted of healthy individuals with the same age, gender, and body mass index characteristics as the patients meeting the exclusion criteria.

RESULTS

A total of 111 cases were included in the study, 48 were IPD, and 63 were healthy controls. There were no statistically significant differences between the IPD and control groups in terms of demographic, anthropometric, and blood parameters (p > 0.05). Serum galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in IPD than the control group (p < 0.001). Serum galectin-3 levels, UPDRS scores, and duration of disease were significantly higher in patients with IPD in parallel with the progression of the disease (p < 0.001; 0.001; 0.009). No significant relationship was detected between the stage of the disease and other parameters (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our study supports the hypothesis that serum galectin-3 level might be associated with IPD. Our data suggest that serum galectin-3 levels might be an accessible biomarker for the detection and prevention of chronic, progressive diseases such as IPH.