Parkinson, a new method allows the diagnosis of the disease before the tremors – breaking latest news

A technique that identifies the accumulation of abnormal protein deposits linked to Parkinson’s disease could aid in early diagnosis and play a key role in clinical diagnosis and characterization of the disease, according to research published in The Lancet Neurology journal. The study that led to the discovery was funded, among others, by the Parkinson’s Research Foundation of theattore Michael J. Fox, affected by an early form of the disease. The presence of misfolded α-synuclein protein aggregates in the brain it is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease.

The technique

The (αSyn-SAA) technique «amplifies» very small amounts of misfolded aggregates of α-synuclein and is able to accurately detect people affected by this neurodegenerative disease and would also be able to identify individuals at risk and those with early non-motor symptoms before diagnosis. “Our results suggest that the αSyn-SAA technique is highly accurate in detecting the Parkinson’s disease biomarker irrespective of clinical features, making possible an accurate diagnosis of the disease in patients in its early stages. Furthermore, our results indicate that misfolded α-synuclein is detectable before dopaminergic damage in the brain is about to be imaged, suggesting the spread of these misfolded proteins before substantial neuronal damage occurs,” he explained. Luis Concha, co-author of the study and director of research and development of Amprion (USA).

The meaning

“Identifying an effective biomarker for Parkinson’s disease pathology could have profound implications for how we treat the disease,” said Andrew Siderowf, Ph. Marker Initiative (PPMI). “If it were possible to diagnose people earlier, it could identify the best treatments for different subgroups of patients and speed up clinical trials.” The new study is the largest analysis to date of the diagnostic possibilities of αSyn-SAA for Parkinson’s disease. Although previous research has shown that αSyn-SAA can clearly distinguish individuals with Parkinson’s disease, no large-scale studies including such a broad range of accurately described participants have been conducted until now. Among the 1,123 participants in the analysis were also including the so-called participants prodromes
. These people had non-motor symptoms – or sleep disturbances loss of smell for example – which may be early signs of Parkinson’s disease, but had not been diagnosed with the disease and had none of the typical motor symptoms, such as tremors or muscle stiffness, that come later in the development of the disease. CSF samples from participants were analyzed using αSyn-SAA. The results gave positive results in 88%. Most of the participants with prodromal symptoms tested positive for αSyn-SAA, meaning they had α-synuclein aggregates despite not yet being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. As underlined by the authors, the research has some limitations and further confirmations will be needed.