The diagnostic and differential diagnosis utility of cerebrospinal fluid α -synuclein levels in Parkinson's disease: A meta-analysis

Several recent studies showed that α-syn might be a potential diagnostic biomarker for pd in human cerebrospinal fluid (csf),but the results were inconsistent. the purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the diagnostic and differential diagnosis efficacy of csf α-syn in pd. studies which measured csf α-syn or α-syn oligomers in patients with pd and met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. results of the meta-analysis indicated that mean concentration of csf α-syn was significantly lower in pd compared to controls and significantly higher in pd compared to multiple system atrophy (msa). no significant difference in mean concentration of csf α-syn was found between pd and dementia with lewy bodies (dlb). mean concentration of csf α-syn was slightly decreased in pd compared to progressive supranuclear palsy (psp). mean concentration of csf α-syn oligomers was significantly higher in pd than control. these results support the findings that csf α-syn may be a potential diagnostic and differential diagnosis biomarker in pd compared to control and msa but not dlb. furthermore,α-syn oligomer may represent a better biomarker for diagnosis of pd. © 2015 bo zhou et al.