Hepatitis C virus infection: a risk factor for Parkinson's disease

Study on the Correlation between Blood Urea Nitrogen, Creatinine Level, Proteinuria and Parkinson's Disease

Introduction

Parkinson's disease (PD) is related to renal insufficiency. The purpose of this study was to explore the correlation between PD and blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and proteinuria.

Methods

The case-control study method was adopted in this study. In total, 200 patients with PD who were hospitalized in the Department of Neurology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University were selected as the PD group, and 110 healthy patients during the same period were selected as the control group. The differences in clinical data and laboratory results between the two groups were compared. Logistic regression analysis, ROC curve, and Spearman correlation analysis were used to determine the correlation between PD and blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and urine protein.

Results

The levels of cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), and apolipoprotein B in the PD group were lower than those in the control group. The levels of creatinine, urea nitrogen, and proteinuria in the PD group were higher than those in the control group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that elevated blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and urine protein levels were risk factors for PD, and elevated LDL-C levels were protective factors for PD. The blood urea nitrogen level of patients with PD was positively correlated with the course of PD, Hoehn-Yahr staging, and UPDRS exercise score (r = 0.309, 0.434, and 0.540, respectively; P < 0.01). Serum creatinine level was positively correlated with the course of PD, Hoehn-Yahr staging, and UPDRS exercise score (r = 0.139, 0.320, and 0.290, respectively; P < 0.01).

Conclusion

Blood urea nitrogen, creatinine levels, and proteinuria can be regarded as the onset of PD and a biomarker of disease progression.

The Intersection of Parkinson's Disease, Viral Infections, and COVID-19

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of human COVID-19, not only causes flu-like symptoms and gut microbiome complications but a large number of infected individuals also experience a host of neurological symptoms including loss of smell and taste, seizures, difficulty concentrating, decreased alertness, and brain inflammation. Although SARS-CoV-2 infections are not more prevalent in Parkinson’s disease patients, a higher mortality rate has been reported not only associated with older age and longer disease duration, but also through several mechanisms, such as interactions with the brain dopaminergic system and through systemic inflammatory responses. Indeed, a number of the neurological symptoms seen in COVID-19 patients, as well as the alterations in the gut microbiome, are also prevalent in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, biochemical pathways such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and protein aggregation have shared commonalities between Parkinson’s disease and COVID-19 disease progression. In this review, we describe and compare the numerous similarities and intersections between neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease and RNA viral infections, emphasizing the current SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis.

Flaviviridae Viruses and Oxidative Stress: Implications for Viral Pathogenesis

Oxidative stress is induced once the balance of generation and neutralization of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is broken in the cell, and it plays crucial roles in a variety of natural and diseased processes. Infections of Flaviviridae viruses trigger oxidative stress, which affects both the cellular metabolism and the life cycle of the viruses. Oxidative stress associated with specific viral proteins, experimental culture systems, and patient infections, as well as its correlations with the viral pathogenesis attracts much research attention. In this review, we primarily focus on hepatitis C virus (HCV), dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) as representatives of Flaviviridae viruses and we summarize the mechanisms involved in the relevance of oxidative stress for virus-associated pathogenesis. We discuss the current understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of oxidative stress induced by Flaviviridae viruses and highlight the relevance of autophagy and DNA damage in the life cycle of viruses. Understanding the crosstalk between viral infection and oxidative stress-induced molecular events may offer new avenues for antiviral therapeutics.