Reduced expression of SOCS1-5 and STAT5a genes in Parkinson's disease patients: evidence for dysregulated immune signaling.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide, characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Recent studies suggest that immune dysregulation and alterations in signaling pathways play a key role in PD pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family genes in PD patients compared to control group. METHODS: Expression of STAT and SOCS family genes in peripheral blood cells were measured using RT-qPCR technique and the results were statistically analyzed using R software. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the expression of STAT1, STAT3, STAT4, and STAT6 genes between the patient and control groups. However, the expression of SOCS1, SOCS2, SOCS3, SOCS5, and STAT5a genes in patients showed a significant decrease compared to the control group (p < 0.001, = 0.003, = 0.004, = 0.03 and = 0.007 respectively). Such decreases were significant between male subgroups for all these genes except SOCS5, for which neither male nor female subgroups showed a statistically significant difference. Regarding age, the expression of STAT1 and STAT6 genes decreased with increasing age (p = 0.046 and 0.04 respectively), while the decrease in STAT5a expression with increasing age was only seen in females (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that the expression of STAT5a, SOCS1, SOCS2, SOCS3, and SOCS5 genes was significantly reduced in PD. Given that these molecules play a crucial role in anti-inflammatory pathways, their reduced expression may indicate defect in these pathways that contribute to the pathogenesis of PD. However, further studies are required to elucidate the exact effects of these changes.