Israeli Progress is Human Progress: Identifying Early Parkinson’s at the Technion
Currently, there is no lab test to predict Parkinson’s disease. Patients are diagnosed through neurological examinations, the results of which are suggestive of the disease.
But researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Faculty of Medicine have now identified a biomarker comprised of five genes shown to predict Parkinson's disease with high accuracy. The findings are reported in a research article now published online by the scientific journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.
Researchers say this biomarker, combined with brain imaging and/or biomarkers in the spinal fluid or other peripheral tissues, could become the gold standard of identifying the disease early on, as well as differentiating it from Alzheimer’s and motor disorders that mimic the symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Lead researcher Dr. Silvia Mandel explains, “A predictive biomarker for Parkinson's disease could also help to identify high-risk individuals before symptoms develop — a stage where prevention treatment efforts might be expected to have their greatest impact to slow disease progression. It could allow diagnosis of carriers of the genetic risk factors, or those who may exhibit pre-symptomatic stages of the disease [depression, sleep disturbances or hyposmia (reduced ability to smell)] and are good candidates for neuroprotective treatment.”
The study was conducted on 62 early-stage Parkinson’s patients and a control group of 64 age-matched subjects, based on previous research conducted by Dr. Mandel and Prof. Moussa Youdim on the brains of deceased Parkinson's disease patients. More strikingly, in 30 patients at advanced stages of Parkinson's disease, the model was 100 percent accurate.
Maybe it’s not a cure yet, but these Technion researchers have made a breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease for now and for the future.
But researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Faculty of Medicine have now identified a biomarker comprised of five genes shown to predict Parkinson's disease with high accuracy. The findings are reported in a research article now published online by the scientific journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.
Researchers say this biomarker, combined with brain imaging and/or biomarkers in the spinal fluid or other peripheral tissues, could become the gold standard of identifying the disease early on, as well as differentiating it from Alzheimer’s and motor disorders that mimic the symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Lead researcher Dr. Silvia Mandel explains, “A predictive biomarker for Parkinson's disease could also help to identify high-risk individuals before symptoms develop — a stage where prevention treatment efforts might be expected to have their greatest impact to slow disease progression. It could allow diagnosis of carriers of the genetic risk factors, or those who may exhibit pre-symptomatic stages of the disease [depression, sleep disturbances or hyposmia (reduced ability to smell)] and are good candidates for neuroprotective treatment.”
The study was conducted on 62 early-stage Parkinson’s patients and a control group of 64 age-matched subjects, based on previous research conducted by Dr. Mandel and Prof. Moussa Youdim on the brains of deceased Parkinson's disease patients. More strikingly, in 30 patients at advanced stages of Parkinson's disease, the model was 100 percent accurate.
Maybe it’s not a cure yet, but these Technion researchers have made a breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease for now and for the future.