Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease in the middle-aged and elderly populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical value of lncRNA TUG1 in PD and its effect on the microglial inflammatory response. A total of 181 subjects were recruited for the study, including 97 patients with PD (male/female 50/47) and 84 healthy individuals (male/female 41/43). There was no significant difference for gender and age distribution between the groups. The expression of serum TUG1 was determined by qRT-PCR. The receiver operating curve (ROC) was applied for diagnostic value analysis. CCK-8 was used to detect the effect of TUG1 on the proliferation of BV2 cells. The motor coordination ability of mice was tested by the rotarod and pole tests. ELISA was used to detect serum pro-inflammatory factors. TUG1 was highly expressed in the serum of PD patients. Serum TUG1 can distinguish PD patients to form healthy controls with the AUC of 0.902. Serum TUG1 was positively correlated with the levels of UPDRS, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in PD patients. Cell experiment results showed that the downregulation of TUG1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and the release of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β. Besides, animal experiments suggested that the downregulation of TUG1 significantly improved the motor coordination ability of the PD mice and inhibited the expression of inflammatory factors. lncRNA TUG1 is a latent biomarker of PD patients. TUG1 downregulation may inhibit the inflammatory response in the progression of PD. These findings provide a possible target for the early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of PD.
Keywords: Diagnosis; Inflammatory; LncRNA TUG1; Microglial; Parkinson's disease.