Researchers at UCL and University Medical Center Goettingen have created an AI-based blood test that predicts Parkinson’s disease up to seven years before symptoms start, using eight biomarkers. This breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, offers hope for early diagnosis and treatment, aiming to protect brain cells before they are damaged.
The condition is a progressive disorder that is caused by the death of nerve cells in the part of the brain called the substantia nigra, which controls movement. These nerve cells die or become impaired, losing the ability to produce an important chemical called dopamine, due to the build-up of a protein alpha-synuclein.
They did this by analyzing blood from 72 patients with Rapid Eye Movement Behaviour Disorder . This disorder results in patients physically acting out their dreams without knowing it . It is now known that about 75-80% of these people with iRBD will go on to develop a synucleinopathy – including Parkinson’s.
“We have not only developed a test, but can diagnose the disease based on markers that are directly linked to processes such as inflammation and degradation of non-functional proteins. So these markers represent possible targets for new drug treatments.” The research was funded by an EU Horizon 2020 grant, Parkinson’s UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research GOSH Biomedical Research Centre , and the Szeben-Peto Foundation.
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