Study Rationale: Although diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is crucial for the success of treatment, especially in the early stages, there are still no biomarkers available for use as a reliable diagnostic test. We find pathological aggregates of alpha-synuclein, the protein causing neuronal cell death in PD, in particular structures in the blood. In this study, we will work to establish a reliable test for this biomarker. The ability to differentiate people with PD from healthy individuals—and from those with other neurodegenerative disorders—with a simple blood test would be a major breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of PD.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that alpha-synuclein can be extracted from the blood, amplified and used as a specific biomarker to distinguish PD from other neurodegenerative disorders.
Study Design:To establish a standard operating procedure, we will test blood collected from individuals with PD and from heathy volunteers. These blood samples will be purified by a specific protocol and the neurotoxic form of alpha-synuclein will be amplified and used as a biomarker for PD. The amplification product will be further analyzed to help tailor this specific biomarker for future application.
Impact on Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosing PD and distinguishing it from other neurological disorders in the early stages of disease is important for treatment, which will be more successful if initiated earlier in the disease course.
Next Steps for Development: The next step would be to validate and expand our method for the purification and detection of pathological alpha-synuclein and make this test available to international laboratories and hospitals to confirm the reliability and transferability of the assay.