Humoral response to hsp 65 and hsp 70 in cerebrospinal fluid in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative movement disorder of unknown etiology. In PD immune abnormalities were reported, but the cause of such abnormalities has not been resolved. Recently, the increased proportion of gamma delta + T cells out of all T cells has been found in patients with PD. Heat shock proteins (hsps) could be targets for gamma delta + T lymphocytes. We examined serum and CSF of patients with PD, age-matched patients with other non-inflammatory neurological diseases (OND old), young patients with other non-inflammatory neurological diseases (OND young), and donors of blood (DB). Antibodies were detected using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The plates were coated with recombinant mycobacterial hsp 65 and hsp 70. The present study showed that the mean ELISA ratio of CSF from patients with PD was significantly greater than that of CSF from patients with OND old (tested against IgG anti-hsp 65 and IgG anti-hsp 70) and OND young (tested against IgG anti-hsp 70). There was no difference between the mean ELISA ratio of sera from patients with PD, OND old and OND young (tested against IgG anti-hsp 65 and IgG anti-hsp 70). The significance of hsps immunity is not completely clear. Increased hsps expression, which is induced by stress, provides cells with protection against the environmental insults. Alternatively, the antibodies may be present as a consequence of prior infections.