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Soluble TREM2 is elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups with increased CSF tau
Wilson EN, Swarovski MS, Linortner P, Shahid M, Zuckerman AJ, Wang Q, Channappa D, Minhas PS et al.. Brain : a journal of neurology, 2020-03-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease and affects 1% of the population above 60 years old. Although Parkinson's disease commonly manifests with motor symptoms, a majority of patients with Parkinson's disease subsequently develop cognitive impairment, which often progresses to dementia, a major cause of morbidity and disability. Parkinson's disease is characterized by α-synuclein accumulation that frequently associates with amyloid-β and tau fibrils, the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes; this co-occurrence suggests that onset of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease may be associated with appearance of pathological amyloid-β and/or tau.
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APA 7th
Wilson, E. N., Swarovski, M. S., Linortner, P., Shahid, M., Zuckerman, A. J., Wang, Q., et al. (2020). Soluble TREM2 is elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups with increased CSF tau. Brain : a journal of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaa021
Vancouver
Wilson EN, Swarovski MS, Linortner P, Shahid M, Zuckerman AJ, Wang Q, et al. Soluble TREM2 is elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups with increased CSF tau. Brain : a journal of neurology. 2020. doi:10.1093/brain/awaa021. PMID: 32065223.
BibTeX
@article{wilson2020-32065223,
author = {Wilson, E. N. and Swarovski, M. S. and Linortner, P. and Shahid, M. and Zuckerman, A. J. and Wang, Q. and Channappa, D. and Minhas, P. S. and others},
title = {{Soluble TREM2 is elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups with increased CSF tau}},
journal = {Brain : a journal of neurology},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1093/brain/awaa021},
pmid = {32065223},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaa021}
}
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Key findings
- Although Parkinson's disease commonly manifests with motor symptoms, a majority of patients with Parkinson's disease subsequently develop cognitive impairment, which often progresses to dementia, a major cause of morbidity and disability.
- Parkinson's disease is characterized by α-synuclein accumulation that frequently associates with amyloid-β and tau fibrils, the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes; this co-occurrence suggests that onset of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease may be associated with appearance of pathological amyloid-β and/or tau.
- Recent studies have highlighted the appearance of the soluble form of the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2) receptor in CSF during development of Alzheimer's disease.
- Given the known association of microglial activation with advancing Parkinson's disease, we investigated whether CSF and/or plasma sTREM2 differed between CSF biomarker-defined Parkinson's disease participant subgroups.
Why it matters
In this cross-sectional study, soluble TREM2 was elevated in Parkinson's disease subgroups that also had increased tau in cerebrospinal fluid. This links TREM2 to tau-related changes in Parkinson's, but it is an observational finding and not a treatment or prevention result for Alzheimer's.
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Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Participants165
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 59/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a snapshot of people at one point in time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Brain : a journal of neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Brain: journal h-index 503 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2020 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 165 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 99 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 12.4 citations a year over 8 year(s) since 2020 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 4.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 5 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 46 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Katrin I. Andreasson: h-index 53 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | University of Washington: institution h-index 3,540 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32065223) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 59 / 100 | — |
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