Secretion of DJ-1 into the serum of patients with Parkinson's disease

DJ-1 was initially identified by us as a novel oncogene and has later been found to be a causative gene for familial Parkinson's disease PARK7. DJ-1 plays role in transcriptional regulation and in oxidative stress function, and loss of its function is thought to be related to onset age, mode of progression and clinical severity of both familial and sporadic forms of Parkinson's disease (PD). DJ-1 is localized both in the cytoplasm and nucleus, and it has been reported to be secreted into the serum or plasma of patients with breast cancer, melanoma, familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy and stroke. In this study, levels of DJ-1 secreted into the serum of healthy controls and patients with sporadic PD were examined by using a DJ-1 ELISA kit, and the level of oxidative stress in the serum was also measured. The results showed that DJ-1 was secreted into the serum of both healthy controls and PD patients. There was no significant difference between the levels of secreted DJ-1 in two groups, and correlations of levels of secreted DJ-1 with age, clinical severity of PD and level of oxidative stress were not found.