Premorbid cancer and motor reserve in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Decreased cancer risk has been reported in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and cancer prior to PD can have a protective effect on PD risk. We investigated cancer history prior to PD diagnosis to determine if such history can enhance motor reserve in PD by assessing the association between motor deficits and striatal subregional dopamine depletion. A total of 428 newly diagnosed, drug-naïve PD patients was included in the study. PD patients were categorized into three groups of no prior neoplasia, premorbid precancerous condition, and premorbid malignant cancer before PD diagnosis. Parkinsonian motor status was assessed using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor score and modified Hoehn and Yahr stage score. All patients underwent positron emission tomography (PET) with ¹⁸F-N-(3-fluoropropyl)-2beta-carbon ethoxy-3beta-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane (¹⁸F-FP-CIT), and the regional standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) were analyzed with a volume-of-interest template among the groups. The UPDRS motor score negatively correlated with SUVRs in the posterior putamen for all patient groups. Groups with neoplasia, especially those with premorbid cancer, showed lower motor scores despite similar levels of dopamine depletion in the posterior putamen relative to those without neoplasia. These results suggest that premorbid cancer acts as a surrogate for motor reserve in patients with PD and provide imaging evidence that history of cancer has a protective effect on PD.