High Expression of lncRNA XIST Assists in the Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) XIST has been implicated in the development of PD. Herein, we sought to investigate the diagnostic value of serum XIST expression in PD. We recorded clinical baseline data, including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), years of education, and PD family history, for PD patients and healthy controls, in addition to the disease course in PD patients. The disease severity of PD patients was assessed using the Hoehn-Yahr grading scale. We evaluated serum XIST expression levels in PD patients and healthy controls using RT-qPCR and assessed the correlation between serum XIST expression and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score. Additionally, we used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to determine the diagnostic value of XIST expression for PD. Our results showed no significant differences in age, sex, BMI, and years of education between PD patients and healthy controls. However, more PD patients had a family history of PD. We found that serum XIST expression was significantly up-regulated in PD patients, and its levels were positively correlated with the UPDRS score. Higher PD stage was also associated with increased serum XIST expression. ROC analysis revealed that XIST expression had a diagnostic value for PD. In conclusion, our findings suggest that serum lncRNA XIST expression may serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker for PD.