Do CSF levels of t-Tau, p-Tau and beta(1-42) amyloid correlate with dopaminergic system impairment in patients with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease? A I-123-FP-CIT study in the early stages of the disease

Purpose To investigate the relationships among cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of t-Tau, p-Tau and A beta(1-42) amyloid peptide and I-123-FP-CIT uptake. Methods The study included 58 subjects (31 men and 27 women, age 67 +/- 9 9 years) with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease diagnosed according to the United Kingdom Parkinson Disease Society Brain Bank criteria. All subjects underwent a CSF assay 28 +/- 3 days before I-123-FP-CIT SPECT scanning. The relationships were evaluated by means of linear regression analysis and Pearson correlation. Results Striatal I-123-FP-CIT was positively related to both t-Tau and p-Tau CSF values with low levels of t-Tau and p-Tau being related to a low uptake of I-123-FP-CIT. In particular, differences with higher statistical significance were found for the striatum between the contralateral side and the side mainly affected on clinical examination (P < 0.001). No significant relationships were found between A beta(1-42) amyloid peptide and I-123-FP-CIT binding. Conclusion The results of our study suggest that the presynaptic dopaminergic system is more involved in Parkinson disease patients with lower t-Tau and p-Tau CSF values while values of A beta(1-42) amyloid peptide seems not to be related to nigrostriatal degeneration in our series.