Blood transcriptome change after deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease

Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been shown to improve both motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, the exact mechanism of action remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate changes in mRNA expression levels in PD patients after DBS compared to those before DBS. PD patients who were scheduled to undergo DBS were recruited from a single university hospital. Blood samples were collected before DBS and 3 months after DBS, and mRNA levels were analyzed using RNA sequencing. Across eight patient pairs, RNA sequencing identified 18 differentially expressed genes at 3 months after DBS (17 downregulated and 1 upregulated). Gene set enrichment analysis showed that these changes were dominated by a coordinated reduction in gene sets related to cytoplasmic translation and the ribosome, oxidative phosphorylation and the respiratory chain, and neutrophil-associated inflammatory functions after DBS. This study suggests that DBS could influence a variety of molecular and cellular processes in PD, including translational, mitochondrial-bioenergetic, and inflammatory programs, providing insights into its potential mechanisms of action. Further larger-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings and fully elucidate the potential neuroprotective effect of DBS.