Pentraxin 3 is a prototypic long pentraxin. Pentraxin 3 is a soluble recognition receptor that is involved in innate immunity and the inflammatory response. Its expression is induced by proinflammatory signals. The aim of this study was to compare the plasma levels of pentraxin 3 in healthy subjects and patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease (PD). Thirty-nine patients with mild cognitive impairment, 75 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 66 patients with PD, and 41 healthy elderly controls were recruited for this study. We performed an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests, including a Mini-Mental Status Examination, clinical dementia rating, and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. A variety of clinical information was collected from the administered semistructured questionnaire. Plasma pentraxin 3 levels were measured using a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Plasma pentraxin 3 levels were significantly higher in the PD patients than in the patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease and in the control subjects. Plasma pentraxin 3 levels in the PD patients were correlated with activities of daily living (r = 0.368; P = .003) and motor function (r = 0.358; P = .004). Plasma pentraxin 3 levels could be a new biochemical marker for PD, and they may be associated with the severity of motor dysfunction and other clinical symptoms in PD patients.
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