key: cord-0718242-lf4xm42d authors: Ait Wahmane, Sofiane; Achbani, Abderrahmane; Ouhaz, Zakaria; Elatiqi, Mohamed; Belmouden, Ahmed; Nejmeddine, Mohamed title: The possible protective role of α‐synuclein against the SARS‐CoV‐2 infections in patients with Parkinson's disease date: 2020-06-09 journal: Mov Disord DOI: 10.1002/mds.28185 sha: 32c78d459b21773d5dc8cd438f77b8b02d9e18e9 doc_id: 718242 cord_uid: lf4xm42d nan Microglia are the resident immune cells of the brain; they play a major role in the neuroinfilammatory process with a high phagocytic capacity 10 . It has been shown that reduction of α-syn expression level in microglia highly increases their response to lipopolysaccharides, while it decreases their phagocytic ability 11 . This is a consequence of overactivation of phospholipase D2 and COX-2, which suggests that α-syn is implicated in lipid-mediated signaling by microglia 12 . Moreover, α-syn may be an activating extracellular ligand for microglia 12 . This support the findings mentioned above in relation to its neuroprotective effect 3 . The COVID-19 can infect neurons and cause disease 13 . It has been shown that it induce neurological diseases such as polyneuropathy,encephalitis, aortic ischemic stroke, and other neurological diseases 14, 15 . Neurological manifestations of COVID-19 infection have been classified into two categories: CNS and PNS manifestations. CNS symptoms include dizziness, headache, impaired consciousness, acute cerebrovascular disease, ataxia, and epilepsy. However, PNS symptoms are less severe and include hyposmia, hypoplasia, neuralgia, and hypogeusia 16 . Taken together, the evidence shown above suggests that overexpression of αsyn in patients suffering from PD might prevent neuroinvasion by the coronavirus, possibly by inhibiting the spread of the virus from the PNS to the CNS. Consistent with this hypothesis, a retrospective cohort study conducted in Japan showed that patients with Parkinsonism hospitalized for pneumonia had a lower rate of in-hospital mortality 17 . This hypothesis can be confirmed by using a large cohort of PD patients experiencing a severe acute respiratory syndrome due to infection with the coronavirus. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. A core deficit in Parkinson disease? A critical role for alpha-synuclein in development and function of T lymphocytes Alpha-Synuclein Expression Restricts RNA Viral Infections in the Brain A Role for Neuronal Alpha-Synuclein in Gastrointestinal Immunity Infection with mosquito-borne alphavirus induces selective loss of dopaminergic neurons, neuroinflammation and widespread protein aggregation. npj Park Late stages of hematopoiesis and B cell lymphopoiesis are regulated by αsynuclein, a key player in Parkinson's disease Immunology of West Nile Virus Infection and the Role of Alpha-Synuclein as a Viral Restriction Factor Alpha-Synuclein to the Rescue: Immune Cell Recruitment by Alpha-Synuclein during Gastrointestinal Infection Alpha-synuclein, a novel viral restriction factor hiding in plain sight Microglia and neuroinflammation: A pathological perspective α-synuclein expression modulates microglial activation phenotype Lack of alpha-synuclein modulates microglial phenotype in vitro Influencia de la infección SARS-Cov2 sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas y Neuropsiquiátricas: ¿Una pandemia demorada? Nervous system involvement after infection with COVID-19 and other coronaviruses Potential neurological symptoms of COVID-19. Ther. Adv. Accepted Article This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved COVID-19 Neurological Manifestations Influence of Parkinsonism on outcomes of elderly pneumonia patients This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.