Longitudinal cognitive decline characterizes the profile of non-PD-manifest GBA1 mutation carriers

• Published in: NPJ Parkinson's Disease Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 88 - 9
• Main Authors: Roeben, Benjamin, Liepelt-Scarfone, Inga, Lerche, Stefanie, Zimmermann, Milan, Wurster, Isabel, Sünkel, Ulrike, Schulte, Claudia, Deuschle, Christian, Eschweiler, Gerhard W., Maetzler, Walter, Gasser, Thomas, Berg, Daniela, Brockmann, Kathrin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.04.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/53/2421; 692/617/375/1718; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Clinical trials; Cognitive ability; Neurology; Neurosciences; Survival analysis
• ISSN: 2373-8057; 2373-8057
• DOI: 10.1038/s41531-024-00706-1

With disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) associated with variants in the glucocerebrosidase gene ( GBA1 ) under way, the challenge to design clinical trials with non-PD-manifest GBA mutation carriers (GBA1 NMC ) comes within close reach. To delineate trajectories of motor and non-motor markers as well as serum neurofilament light (sNfL) levels and to evaluate clinical endpoints as outcomes for clinical trials in GBA1 NMC , longitudinal data of 56 GBA1 NMC carriers and 112 age- and sex-matched GBA1 wildtype participants (GBA1 wildtype ) with up to 9 years of follow-up was analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMEM) and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of clinical endpoints for motor and cognitive function. GBA1 NMC showed worse performance in Pegboard, 20 m fast walking, global cognition as well as in executive and memory function at baseline. Longitudinally, LMEM revealed a higher annual increase of the MDS-UPDRS III bradykinesia subscore in GBA1 NMC compared to GBA1 wildtype , but comparable trajectories of all other motor and non-motor markers as well as sNfL. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed a significantly earlier progression to clinical endpoints of cognitive decline in GBA1 NMC . Incidence of PD was significantly higher in GBA1 NMC . In conclusion, our study extends data on GBA1 NMC indicating early cognitive decline as a potentially characteristic feature. Comprehensive longitudinal assessments of cognitive function are crucial to delineate the evolution of early changes in GBA1 NMC enabling a more accurate stratification and allow for a more precise definition of trial design and sample size.