Association between plasma PCSK9 levels and lipid profile in patients with Parkinson’s disease and comparison with healthy subjects

Background: Up to know, limited and contradictory results have been published about the role of prognostic values of lipid profile and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of lipid profile and PCSK9 in patients with PD and compare it with healthy individuals. Methods: In this case-control study, 31 individuals diagnosed with PD were compared with 31 healthy individuals. The lipid profile and PCSK9 of research participants were measured and the resulting data were analyzed using SPSS software. The P-values smaller than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The mean age of participants in the PD and control group was 56.9 ± 8.8 and 53.7 ± 10.1 years, respectively (P > 0.050). 27 individuals (87.1%) in the PD group and 13 individuals (41.9%) in the control group were men. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level (84.2 ± 24.9 ml/dl vs. 105.5 ± 16.8, P < 0.001), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level (45.5 ± 8.7 ml/dl vs. 51.1 ± 9.5 ml/dl, P < 0.001), and total cholesterol (155.3 ± 31.2 ml/dl vs. 192.8 ± 32.5 ml/dl, P < 0.001) were lower and triglyceride (TG) level was higher in the PD group (133.3 ± 79.3 ml/dl vs. 131.2 ± 58.6 ml/dl, P = 0.900) compared with the control group. PCSK9 level was higher in the PD group, but no significant difference was found (141.6 ± 70.0 vs. 129.7 ± 51.0 ng/ml, P = 0.500) compared to healthy subjects. Moreover, there was no relation between PCSK9 and severity of PD. Conclusion: Our findings showed that individuals with PD had lower levels of HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol compared with the control group. However, higher concentrations of PCSK9 were observed in patients with PD compared with healthy volunteers.