帕金森氏病（PD）是一种严重的多巴胺神经元退化性疾病，尽管有非常清晰的诊断标准，但早期的诊断仍然较为困难，特别是在对多系统萎缩，进展性核上性麻痹的早期诊断容易混淆。为此PD早期生物学标记的制定和预警机制的设立，有着迫切的需要。研究显示炎性反应在PD的发病早、中期就已经被启动，同时早期PD病人的非运动症状明显受损。由此，筛选到高度特异性和敏感性的炎性预警生物标志，同时以阻止此炎症免疫的调节已成为在早期诊断及治疗PD中非常关键且有前途的目标。本研究将通过对周围血及脑脊液中特异性炎症因子的检测及采用PET,SPECT,MRS直接检测PD患者在早、中、晚期中的多巴胺载体、受体与波谱的改变情况，并评估此改变情况与PD患者的运动和非运动功能的相关性。通过此研究，我们希望找到特定的一个或几个受体、载体，对PD的病程发展和治疗愈后起到指标性作用，并且结合周围血与脑脊液的炎症因子的改变以建立一个早期预警机制

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder following Alzheimer's Disease (AD),and is characterized by a disturbance of the central dopaminergic system. Currently, diagnosis of PD mainly relies on the clinical features; however, differential diagnosis from other parkinsonian disorders, such as essential tremor (ET), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), can be rather challenging due to overlapping symptoms, particularly during the early disease stages. Therefore, it is very urgently to explore effective biomarkers to robustly diagnose PD, especially at the early stage. It has been shown that inflammatory responses have been initiated and play important roles in the pathogenesis and development of PD. This study aims to investigate specific and sensitive inflammatory biomarkers such as Nurr1/MMP9/3/NF-KB in the serum of patients as potential predictors of PD. We intend to assess PD patients in terms of nonmotor symptoms (NMS), cognitive deficits, disease severity, and motor status, according to the NMS scale (NMSS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the modified Hoehn and Yahr staging scale (H&Y), and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), respectively. The presence of an association of biomarkers with motor and non-motor dysfunctions in all of the subjects will be determined, as measuring those biomarkers by real-time PCR, western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and flow cytometry. Imaging study including PET/SPECT will be supplied to detect dopamine transporter and receptors in PD patients; while any associations between imaging findings and motor/nonmotor dysfunctions in PD patients will be evaluated. MPTP induced PD mice model (in vivo PD model) and 6-OHDA induced PC12 (in vitro PD model) will be used to explore the impacts of inflammatory mediators such as Nurr1/MMP9/3/NF-KB in those in vivo and in vitro models, as assessing those mediators by immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and flow cytometry.In addition, siRNA technique will be applied to knock down the Nurr1 gene in vitro PD model and investigate Nurr1-mediated inflammatory mechanisms. Through this study, we would like to set up a complete predictive system including inflammatory mediators and imaging findings in diagnosing early PD, and assess the progression of PD.